Fullmetal Alchemist: Journey for the Truth
by kagehisa
Summary: Truth gave Edward a cold smile. Wants are irrelivent. Choice is an illusion. Don't go thinking about the why's when they mean nothing. After all, Little Fool, nothing is bigger than the personal.
1. Ch1 First Step

This is my first fanfic on Fullmetal Alchemist, so please be kind.

After having read some dozens of fanfics and all the released english mangas, my interest in the series spiked and I put together this fanfic to satisfy my urges to retelling stories or series to which it would have different beginings and endings to influence the story line, particularly with the many characters from the manga and anime I would love to bring into a single story. Trust me when I say it will be worth while, that is until I'm certain when my personal computer is working again and have internet access.

Oh, well. What can you do?

The rest you'll have to read for yourself, so on with the fic!

**Disclaimer: I don't Fullmetal Alchemist or anything else, just the plot of this fic. **

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**First Step**

Edward Elric had seldomly ever felt as furious and irritated as he did at that moment while he stared at the crumbled remains of the fake Philosopher's Stone; a blood-red gem no larger than a fingernail, disintigrate into dust and blew away with the wind. Just like all the times he and his brother had arduously searched across the lands for the means to return their bodies to their original state, suffered from the effects of the alchemic rebound of the forbidden ritual they performed so many years ago it seemed, which was actually only four. Their efforts, their struggles wasted away by futility, as if fate sought to eternally punish them for their transgression.

All that work, waiting, and time-consuming effort. All for nothing but a cheap knock-off replica!

Golden eyes ablaze, Edward scanned around himself, taking in the scene that surrounded him.

Dozens of people crowded surrounding the U-shaped stair platform leading into the church. Men, women, children and elderly, shouted for demands of the false messenger of Leto to answer for his lies he had told the people for so long, only to reveal his plot of using the people of Liore as martyrs for his selfish ambition to claim dominion over the country by heedlessly spewing his plans to the people through his own broadcast channel Ed and Al assembled, fooling the false prophet into revealing his own plans.

Broken, jagged blocks of stone littered the otherwise smooth surface of the stair platform, some the size of a fist, others as large as wagons. Behind the elder Elric, the church of Leto stood in ruins with its front completely torn from the main structure, exposing the interior floor levels and articulate masonry of the towering church that resembled a castle. The high sun's position made the inside of the church pitch in shadows while all else outside was under the baking sun's harsh bright glare, though Edward was still standing in the shadow of the twenty-meter-tall statue of Leto, which had bursted from the church -the same statue Edward had created from the Earth and manipulated it with his alchemy- to rip the church open wide from the inside.

His anger was still boiling his blood, so he turned to the prone Cornello to vent his fury-

Only to find the old priest had dissappeared. Only a small puddle of blood was any indication that Cornello had been there.

Edward grounded his teeth together and furrowed his brow in obvious anger. Where had the old man gone off to? Edward's trained eye caught a small detail overlooked in his frustration.

Another spot of blood was close to the puddle, followed by another, and another, leaving a trail of blood drops that lead into ruined chapel of the monestary. The wounded Cornello must have escaped into the church when Edward wasn't looking.

_'I guess we need to fix that won't we?'_ Edward thought darkly, clapping his palms together and transmuting his auto-mail arm into a broad blade with a flurish of alchemic blue lightning, earning a few shocked gasps from the gathered populace. Ed ignored them all, too focused on planning Cornello's punishment to merit any attention to anything else.

As Edward surged into the chapel, he couldn't help but feel a strange sense come over him, one he knew but buried beneath his single-minded drive to find the means to restore his brother's body as well as his own.

Justice.

Yes, he remembered having a sense of justice, knowing right from wrong by law and moral standards. It flared to life in his chest as he recollected the scenes of the day behind his eyes; Cornello creating a chimera bird to trap Rose's boyfriend's soul into and having it attack the helpless girl, lying to the ignorant people of the Liore and planning to use them as expendable pawns to bring the country under his rule. Edward vowed to make the priest pay for his crimes.

That, and he had a personal vendetta to settle with the false prophet. Cornello might have started the battle between he and his brother, but Edward vowed to be the one that finished it.

Ed followed the trail of blood drops through the isle and up to the diaz where the twenty-foot statue of Leto was standing tall with his sun-crested staff in hand, surrounded by a circle of lit candles. Edward might have taken a moment to admire the statue's craftsmanship, but he didn't believe in admiring something that depicted an intangible being created from an eccentric's idea.

Edward moved on, turning left of the diaz while following the trail of blood that lead to an arched door of hard wood that was left opened ajar. The young Alchemist quietly pushed the door open and entered a circular chamber with no windows or openings to speak of, with a spiraling stone stair case twisted upward around a three-meter thick pillar that stretched perhaps two or three bow-shots high, with at least a dozen or more lit wooden torches hanging on the walls in scattered locations. Thick blue stone comprised the hollow chamber, and Edward heard echoing panting coming from above on the stair case where Cornello was limping upward along the stairs, clutching his malformed arm that suffered the fake Philosopher's Stone's alchemic rebound and mutated his flesh. The priest seemed not to have yet noticed him, as his laboured breathing sounded like thunder to Edward's ears.

Edward decided to waste no further time and quickly -though silently- made his way up the stair case after Cornello, keeping a relative distance to avoid notice.

By the time Edward had reached the top of the stairs, Edward had to fight to keep his breathing level and even without alerting the old priest of his presence. Considering he had continued walking nonstop upward for over a half-hour with his metalic prosthetic limbs, his legs felt like leadweights and his lungs were burning with lack of sufficient oxygen. When his breath finally returned to him, he continued on toward an arched entryway where a soft orange glow manifested, where drops of blood were still leaving a trail. Cornello was just inside.

Hugging against the wall with his back, the young alchemist peered around the corner.

Cornello wasn't alone. Within the rectangular dungeon with wall-bolted prison chains and several glowing torches, Edward could see two more figures at the far end of the dim room.

The first he noticed was the bald one, like a hairless gorilla, with thick muscular arms that reached the floor with large hands, sausage-like fingers and squat legs. His belly was huge, large enough to fit a wine barrel into, and he wore a pitch-black skin suit around his legs and middle, leaving only his wrist-cuffed arms and bald head bare. But most surprising about him was his perfectly circular bone-white eyes and huge jaws.

The other one, a beautiful tall woman by her voluptuos feminine curves, was as pale as salt with wavy black hair that reached her lower back, and her face was framed by her high cheek bones, purple-slitted eyes and pitch-glossed lips. She wore a fitting blackgreen dress cut at the top, revealing the swell of her cleavage and her shoulders, while her arms were covered in pitch-black latex arm gloves and she wore high-heel shoes. A red circular insignai was on her chest just below her throat, but Edward couldn't make out any details due to the dim lighting.

When Cornello noticed them, his expression of panic turned to rage. "You lying bastards!" he yelled at them, which reverberated off the walls like inside a cave. "You decieved me! You gave me a damn fake catalyst stone. You said that Philosopher's Stone would grant me power to rule the country! Instead it's just made my arm deformed!"

The voluptuous woman mock-examined her nails, showing her disinterest in the priest's ramblings. "I might have said something along those lines, but you were the fool to actually believe them." Her voice was sultry and smoothly seductive, but held a cruel edge easily dismissed to the average observer. "Did you really think we would give something so valuable as a Philosopher's stone to foolish human trash like you? You're not even a forth-rate fool to be decieved so easily, even by the Fullmetal boy." She gave a throaty laugh that reverberated off the chamber walls, making Edward's skin turn gooseflesh in fright. Her laugh sounded too unatural to be human.

"The true reason we gave you that fake catalyst stone was to cause some chaos in the region. Within another month or less, the military will come after hearing word of a possible sighting of the fabled Philosopher's Stone and bring with them their most skilled alchemists, and then we use them for our purposes." She gave the rage-trembling Cornello a bone-chilling sneer while her gorilla-like companion grinned a wide toothy smile with drool dribbling from his jaws. "It's unfortunate for you that you won't be alive to see this happen, old fool."

The underlying threat only served to make the old priest abandon what little temper control he had left and rushed toward the woman like a mad man, ignoring the flaming pain in his mutated right arm and pulled back his left fist to punch the tall, smirking woman in the face and see her bleed.

Faster than the human eye could follow, the woman ducked Cornello's attack, leveled her hand with his face, and her gloved fingers sharpened, extended, then shot out like hurled spears and pierced Cornello's skull and chest, protruding from out his back and killing him instantly and painlessly. The woman pulled her spear-like fingers from his skull in a flourish, waving the blood off her fingers, and the priest's corpse fell down lifelessly like a heavy sack of meat.

The woman regarded the dead priest with dissapointment and slight satisfaction, as though she somewhat regretted killing a vermin that might have served some usefulness. "Damnit all. Father will be furious when he finds out our pawn is dead." She said as her nails receeded to their origional size. She turned to her bald companion. "Go ahead and eat, Gluttony. We better not leave any evidence of the fool's body."

Gluttony didn't even pause after the woman told him to eat and he literally pounced onto Cornello's corpse with a leap that defied his gargantuan girth and tore into the old man's body with his large teeth like a starved canibal, tearing great chunks of flesh of priest's body and spraying blood all around him in a gory feast. The sight and sound of flesh-rendering made Edward's stomack heave even as he managed to turn away before Gluttony...digged in to his meal.

"Still eating like a pig I see." Said another boyish deep voice from the shadows. Edward tore his brief gaze away from the gory sight to see an androgynous-looking young man that looked no older or taller than himself with long strands of drooping vine-like hair of green obsidian, with a sharp face and purple eyes and a trimmed, muscular frame of gymnist. He wore dark-colored midrift sleeveless shirt, tight black shorts that reached near his knees with a short black skirt, black wrist gloves and toe-less feet gloves where the toes and heels were exposed.

The woman regarded the newcomer with both familiarity and indifference. "Hello Envy. What took you so long to come here? Gluttony's already done eating."

"Shut up, Lust!" Envy snapped. "While you and Gluttony were watching from the sidelines, I've been busy impersonating over a dozen humans and making phone calls to the military to lead them here. The rumors were a bitch to spread." Envy turned to the miniscule remains of Cornello's corpse that Gluttony hadn't eaten. "All that's left to do is impersonate Cornello and wait for the military to come while I fool the village idiots into martyrs once more."

When he finished speaking, Edward could only watch as Envy's body glowed pure white from the feet that rose up to his legs, across his torsoe, and over his head, while his body grew taller and wider, and the light cascading away like shimmering water to reveal the hairless wrinkled face of Cornello in his black church robes.

Edward knew that what ever it was that Envy used to change his shape and appearance to match Cornello, it wasn't alchemy. And for that matter, what ever Lust, Gluttony, or Envy were, they weren't human.

_'Al and I have got to get out of this town immediately'_, Edward thought while edging away from the archway entrance. '_What ever plans these...things...have in store for us, it can't be good.'_ Just before Edward could step any further from the archway, he heard Lust say something else.

"While you stay and wait for the military, Gluttony and I will follow the Elric brothers until our chance to exploit their skills comes." Her voice changed to a chilling amused tone. "Also, keep an eye on that Rose girl. She might be just perfect for Father's plans."

Edward didnt' bother to listen for anything else, nor did he consider what she meant by "Father" before he tiptoed to the edge of the stair platform, which led a 150 foot drop to the stone floor. Edward looked left and right for something to transmute and caught sight of a wooden torch which he could use to make a rope, but stopped. Even if he did have enough torches to make a proper length of rope, which he didn't as their wasn't enough torches nearby, the alchemical flash of light would instantly alert the creatures in the chamber and pursue him and, in most probability, kill him.

Edward remembered suddenly of vest pocket that contained steel wire for binding if incase he couldn't use alchemy. He shuffled his hands through his vest pockets and found the length of silver garrot wire rolled into an oval loop. The wire was as thin as human hair, yet had the tensile strength to support nearly half a quarter-ton, thanks to Edward's alchemic skills in fashioning the make-up of the metal.

Hearing nothing from the chamber but slight shuffling of the feet that told him they were just moving about, Edward looped the garrot around the bolted torch holder on the stone wall and gave it an experimental tug and, after finding it secure, used his right auto-mail limb to wrap the wire around his hand twice so to slow his decent to the floor and hopped off the stair platform, the garrot pulling taught from Edward's weight. If he had used his flesh-and-blood hand, the garrot wire would have sliced it clean off.

It was thirty seconds of decending past the spiraling stair case before Edward's feet touched the floor and made a mad dash through the wooden door, past the dias of Leto's statue and through the isle of bench rows toward the entrance where the wall was destroyed and blinding bright light spilled into the sanctum.

He rushed out into the open outside, where the town's people were still crowding around the U-shaped stair platform in a frenzied mob, shouting for Cornello's name and demanding an explaination. When the town's people saw Edward emerge from the ruined temple, their shouts rang out.

"Where's Cornello?!"

"Did you see him in their?! Drag his lying ass outside!"

"What happened?"

Numerous deafening shouts similar to these resounded through the air that made the Fullmetal alchemist's thoughts stray from his focus and concentration, but still he could vividly remember Lust impaling Cornello with her spear-fingers, the routund Gluttony devouring the old priest's corpse, the shapeshifting Envy transforming into a lookalike of the dead cult leader, and of their plot to bring the military to Liore to use the State Alchemist for some purpose or other.

Before he could stop himself, Edward shouted loudly above the cacaphony of assembled people. "Leave this town while you can!"

The crowd fell totaly silent hearing Edward's shout, giving the blond young man looks of perplexion. Each person -man, woman, child and elder- had their faces in stunned disbeliefe.

"Cornello lied to you all!" Edward yelled again when the crowd quieted, "You heard it yourself on his broadcast not even an hour ago, and there's nothing he could say to prove it otherwise.

"I've seen what he had done myself and know he was just manipulating you all. He even tried to silence Rose with death upon hearing that he was just a fake! He used a chimera monster with her very boyfriend's soul trapped within it to kill her!"

The crowd gasped in astonishment, while some others raised their fists in fury for hearing about how Cornello sought to kill a kind girl like Rose, whome the whole town had grown fond of because of her cheerful nature and sunny disposition when having been under Cornello's care.

"There's nothing left for you all here. You must leave before the military comes to take over the town and imprison you all. They know that you have seen Cornello's 'miricals' and will execute you to keep quiet of it. Flee while you still can!"

Edward didn't know if the town's people had believed him or not, or were startled to do as he said to avoid possible harm. Nonetheless, the crowd scattered and made hasty retreats toward their homes, perhaps to pack their belongings and leave or to stay home for rest. Edward didn't know, and he didn't bother to concern himself with anything else but to wait until Al returned.

Edward caught a glance of red cloth buried under a pile of large jagged stones near the exposing opening of the temple and went to pick it up. He kicked the stones away and found it was his red coat, undamaged despite having been buried under sharp stones, and after clapping his palms together to revert his auto-mail arm blade back into its original shape--a multi-grooved plate of chrome steel-- slipped his coat on. He walked back to the dias' edge, sat, and waited.

The sun was setting now, a glowing ball of bright orange light behind the thin clouds as it made its way behind the town's buildings, casting lengthly shadows along the ground as the minutes passed by. A broad silhouette covered Ed, making the young alchemist raise his head to see who it was that owned the large shadow, only to see a seven foot tall suit of armor.

The armor was made of blue iron, with broad, spiked shoulders and a large chest. The head had no human-like characteristics and shoe-shaped, and halfmoon-shaped eye-holes where they glowed a red-rimmed white, and a cone-shaped horn protruded from the forehead. It chin was large and jutting, and had a loin cloth fastened around the waist.

This was Alphonse Elric, the younger Elric brother whose soul was bound to the armor by the rune of blood Edward had made to keep him in the living world after his body had been taken by the rebound of the human transmutation they attempted some four years ago.

Iron face expressionless, Al asked hesitantly, "Are you alright, Big Brother? What happened in there?" He pointed to the ruined Temple of Leto, his boyish voice reverberating through the armor as if he really were inside it, but the voice only came from the blood rune hidden within the armor.

"I'm fine Al. I'm glad you're here, because we have to leave this town before sundown."

"But Brother-"

"Don't question me, Al!" Edward immediatly winced after hearing how harsh his voice sounded and said in a softer tone, "We can't afford to stay here any longer. Let's pack our things and leave while we still can. I'll explain on the way."

Uncertain, Al nodded and left for their hotel room where they left their belongings while Edward started to walk away, stopped, then turned to the Temple of Leto. He strided away after a moment of gazing at it, hoping he wouldn't be left with any lasting nightmares from what he witnessed take place inside barely a half-hour ago.

When Edward reached the town border, he found Alphonse waiting just outside the entrance gate with their suitcase in hand; where they carried all their alchemic research notes and books. The sun was nearing the horizon now, slowly dipping toward the surface.

However, before they had stepped more than a few paces from the town's borders, a voice rang out behind them. "Please wait! Don't leave yet!"

Both Al and Ed stopped and turned to the source of the voice and found the young girl Rose running toward them, a leather bag held in her hands. She was taller than Edward, with dark-tanned skin and long dark brown hair that flowed down her back and pink-red bangs. She was a beautiful girl with a sunny disposition, but now she seemed anything but as cheerful as she had been before the incident. Her face was dirty with dust and dirt sticking onto her tear-stained cheeks, and her eyes were red and puffy. She must have been grieving for her dead boyfriend, Cain.

She stopped just a few paces from the Elric Brothers and crumpled to the ground with her bag in exhaustion, seeming to fall into a submissive posture, as though begging them to hear her plea. "Please, take me with you." Her voice sounded hoarse and ragged from her unsteady breathing. "Please let me come with you. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to believe in anymore."

"And you think we should whole-heartedly accept your request after you sided with Cornell, even after that bastard exposed his whole plan of using you all as martyrs to take over the country?" Edward's voice was dismissive, unforgiving almost. "You chose to believe that your god could bring the dead back to life. Don't come to us as a last resort since your faith in your god has failed you."

Al watched as his brother turned away from the grieving girl, only to see Rose grasp onto Edward's automail wrist softly but desperately. It was a feeble grip Ed could have pulled out of even ill and weak, but he didn't, and stopped, waiting. He turned to face Rose and saw the girl's tears dripping from behind her mismatched-colored bangs into the dusty soil, while tremors wracked through her slim frame.

"Please," Rose pleaded again in sob, "Please take me with you. Show my your truth, equivilant exchange or whatever it is, just show me something that won't use me or lie to me-"

"Alchemy isn't something to turn to when you're desperate for answers!" Edward said harshly, while Rose flinched from the cold tone. "Alchemy is science and nothing more. It is cold, ugly truth. You say you want to know Truth? Then here's the truth. Cornello lied to you, decieved you, plotted to use you and the villagers as his martyrs, and your god can't bring your boyfriend back to life, because nothing can bring the dead from their graves. That's the truth! And if it's too much for you to deal with, then just move on and forget it ever happened!" Edward roughly pulled his hand free from Rose's grip.

Hearing the girl's sobs continue, he said in a softer tone, "No one can tell you what path you must take or what beliefes you must commit. You still have good strong legs. Use them, and keep yourself up."

Edward strided past Al to the gate fences, while Rose quietly sobbed on her knees in the dirt. If Edward was willing to be honest with himself, he felt sick to his stomach for treating a grieving girl so cold and harshly after she just suffered betrayal twice in so short a time, but he knew it had to be done. Niether he nor Al could afford to take any straglers with them because their travels were too dangerous and they couldn't afford to waste time for anyone else.

"Are you really going to abandon Rose, Big Brother?" Al said solomnly behind the older Elric. "Are you going to abandon her...like our father abondoned us?"

The effect was immediate. Edward stopped dead in his tracks and reeled as if struck by a physical blow, his breath left him for a moment only to return to his lungs in deep heaves like a raging animal. Memories flashed behind his eyes of the man he had called his father walking out their home for the last time, never to return, and left their mother grieving alone but moved on to take care of Al and himself, all the while their mother, Trisha Elric, always hoped for their father's return.

_'I'm nothing like him!'_ , Edward thought venomously, clutching his chest with his flesh-and-blood hand to lessen the spike of pain around his heart._ 'I would never...I don't _want_ to leave Rose, but...I can't always be around to protect her if we encounter any danger.'_

It was a pathetic excuse at best, and Edward knew it -knew, but denied it- because he was affraid of taking on another responsibility and innevitably failing it later.

It was times like this that Edward hated his stubborn pride.

He remembered suddenly of what transpired in the Temple of Leto, where Lust had spoken to Envy about using Rose for some purpose or other to be used by their "Father", whoever he was, undoubtably something that would either lead to her death or suffering. He recalled his own harsh words he just spoke to the weeping girl, and he felt another stab of pain in his chest for how much his words sounded like hypocrisy. He had willingly -and blindly- attempted the most unforgivable act humanly possible just to see his mother again, just like she wanted to have her beloved with her once more, and he was whole-heartedly forgiven by his brother and sarogate family, the Rockbells.

But Rose never commited anything near as horrible as their -_**his**_- transgression. She only sided with Cornello because he was her only hope in reviving her boyfriend, the only hope she could hold on to, and she never meant any ill intent or harm to them. If he could be forgiven, after all he had done, why couldn't he bring himself to forgive the girl behind him?

Swallowing with great effort, Edward finally steadied his breath and tilted his head back. '_I have no right to condemn her'_, Edward thought. '_If I were to hold her mistake against her, then I should have never been forgiven for trying to bring Mom back to life_.' He winced at the last thought, and a warm tear escaped his eye. '_Everyone makes mistakes, and never meant to have us harmed. She just wanted her boyfriend with her again.'_

Edward made his decision, and he prayed he was making the right choice.

"Haaahh...Leto burn me for this." Edward drawled exhasperately, attracting the attention of Rose and Al. Swivling around in a spin, Edward all but glared at Rose with a look that commanded her attention, his brow furrowed in deep concentration and his face tight.

"You say you want to learn our 'Truth' and learn alchemy?" Edward asked with deep voice. Rose nodded her head uncertainly. "If you choose to come with us and learn our ways, you must renounce all your religious beliefs and be ready to undertake the training to understand the world of alchemy, because even if Al might be lenient on you, I won't.

"But let me give you fair warning before your final decision. Once you decide to join us, you can never return to this place for a home, and you must carry your own weight when we travel. And if you fall behind, you're left behind. Decide now."

Rose considered this for a moment, her brow furrowed in intense concentration showing her internal indecision. Edward knew his demands seemed unreasonably harsh and unfair and wondered if she would reconsider her decision and turn back into Liore, but Rose nodded firmly and rose to her feet, clutching the strap of her bag tightly as she fixed Edward with a determined eye.

"Whatever it takes, I'll do it. If I have to carry myself on my own feet, I'll accept that."

"Alright then" Edward said finally, "We leave now while the winds are still strong, so keep up and don't drag your feet."

Even when Edward pivoted away almost dirisively, Al couldn't help but feel great admiration for his brother for offering their new campanion their company. '_I'm glad you've changed, Big Brother' _, Al thought while looking toward Ed's back, where the black Flamel crucifix insignia stood out in even greater contrast with the red coat in the setting light. '_I was afraid you lost your kindness.'_

While Al carried the suit case and jogged up beside Edward, Rose too came up from behind the brothers and fell in step with them, giving both of them an apreciative smile of thanks for allowing her to join them.

As they trugded past the town fence border, Edward stopped suddenly and turned his sights toward Liore, recalling what he remembered of what occured in the Church of Leto, from Cornello's gruesome death and Lust's final words. "While you stay to wait for the military, Gluttony and I will follow the Elric Brothers until our chance to exploit their skills comes."

A frightful thought just came to him. Despite his relief that only two of the three creatures that would be pursuing them, there was still the issue of the creatures following their trail. What could be done about evading their tracking skills? Walking through the desert wasn't a problem, since the rough winds would quickly and easily remove their tracks from the fine grain sands. But what could he do to lead them _away_ from their direction? Absently, Edward fiddled with his braided blond hair as he considered.

And then an idea came to him as his fingers stroked his braided hair. His plan in mind, he clapped his palms together, invoking the alchemic power of using mental material analysis, breaking down the steel metal of his arm by pieces seperating and rearanging, and in a flourish of blue light and electricity, changed his auto-mail arm back into a fore-arm blade. Before either Alphonse or Rose could ask him why he stopped or what he was doing, Edward grasped his braided hair length with his flesh-and-blood hand and severed it clean with his auto-mail blade, sending several dozen stray strands of golden hair to be carried by the desert winds due south and away from the town, shimmering brilliantly in the sunlight.

Edward unbound the length of golden hair in his palm and held it out in his outstretched arm as if requesting the winds to take it as an offering. As if obeying his silent wishes, the desert gale winds greedily took his cut hair and carried it away to the south, scattering thousands--if not tens of thousands--of shimmering golden threads through the air and disappearing in the distance.

"Why did you do that, Big Brother?" Alphonse asked curiously.

When Edward answered, his voice sounded wistfull. "To keep the wolves off our trail." Edward's reply only served to confuse Alphonse even more, so he let the issue drop and once again fell instep with Ed and Rose as the trio marched away from the desolate town of Liore, its occupants already making preparations for departure.

Edward didn't say anymore until later during their trip as they walked north in the opposite direction of Liore; toward west into Amestris, Rose and Al following close behind and unknowingly escaping the dangers lying within the once peaceful but now desolate town.

Lashing hot winds buffeted the sand dunes, carrying speckles of sand and dust in thick obscuring clouds, removing trio from sight as the sun finished its decent.

* * *

Silence dominated the desert town, where not even a stray dog or cat disturbed the stillness. Only stray tumbleweeds and random dustdevils gave occupied the empty alleys, streets, plazas, and pavilions. 

High above the desert town of Liore, a single black crow, nothing but an unseen disfigurement in the dark night sky, circling above in the air searching for something, its obsidian black eyes scanning the streets, alleys, and building windows for signs of life, but found nothing. There was no one in the town as far as the crow could see.

Finding nothing in its flight search, the black bird angled its body sideways, gliding downward through the building spaces and flapped onto a perch atop a roof ledge of a tall apartment complex.

The sun had set at least an hour ago, and now only the waxing moon provided any meager illumination to the abandoned town. But to the crow, it didn't matter how long ago the sun had set. Aside from its night-attuned vision, it didn't matter how long anything came, lasted, or disappeared into nothingness. Whether it was only a few moments or several decades, even a century, time held no residual meaning or interest for the crow. It had lived for centuries and not even time, which could bring down mountains, could ravage its flesh.

The crow grew bored after a time, watching nothing as if contemplating something it would share only with itself in its thought. Flapping its jet-black wings, the crow lifted itself into the air, soaring at an angle toward ruined remains of the Church of Leto bathed in the serene moonlight that revealed its damages.

When the crow reached its destination, it slowed its flight decent and glided down onto the iron rail of the open observatory balcony of the church tower. The crow gave another flap and perched onto the rail with its clawed feet, and the metal suddenly gave under the bird as if under the strain of an enormous weight. It hopped off the rail and onto the stone floor, fractures appearing wherever the crow's feet stepped as it hopped into the shadows of the dark chamber.

The air pressure around the bird intensified suddenly, sparks of blue electricity whipped off its body as it transformed.

The beaked head enlarged, rounded, and the beak receaded inward into a sharp, narrow face, and whip-like hair of green obsidian sprouted from the rounded scalp like sharp vines. The body enlarged, the shoulders' broadened, its spine straitened, the feathers dissintegrated and receaded under the flesh and revealed pale human skin, while the legs changed shape, thickening with wiry, taught muscle. And in place of the feathers that once covered his body, the shapeshifter was once agian clothed in his mid-drift muscle shirt, free-bound skirt and tight shorts that reached just above the knees. His hands and feet were cuffed with toe and finger-less coverings.

On his left thigh was the Ouroboros crest; the winged serpent forming a circle attempting to eat its tail, surrounding a hexogram.

Envy irritably cracked his neck after completing his transformation, an after effect of altering his bodily shape into animal forms, and rearanging the formation of his organs, bones, muscles, and nerves into proper alignment.

_'What a waste of fucking time,'_ Envy thought irritably, having to fly across the sky above Liore at Lust's insistance to find why the town had become so quiet so quickly, even though she was, by age, his lesser "sister".

But he had to do as she ordered, because their "Father" left Lust in charge of overseeing the planning of their actions. Even if Envy would -secretly- admit that Lust was the better strategist of the brood, that didn't mean Envy enjoyed being ordered around like a gods-damned dog!

Even now his memory taunted him of what Lust said for him to do. "Go scout the town and find out why the humans dispersed so suddenly. I've a feeling our monopoly just slipped through our fingers."

Envy had been only a hair's breadth away from ripping Lust apart right then and there for adressing him as if some lowly human vermin! Lust had better count their blessings while they lasted, Envy thought darkly, else she'll find herself on the wrong end of his fury, with or without Father's consent or approval.

But then again, it wouldn't matter if she were destroyed in either case, since she was the most expendable of the brood. Aside from her strategical skills, she rarely ever confronted their enemies and only did so under the most inoppertune moments that suited only herself, and she left the grunt work to the would-be alchemists that desired the power of the Philosopher's Stone until she would take their work and bring it to their Father as if she had done the work herself. A plan so simple even Gluttony could do himself, and his intelligence no better than a child's.

Out of all the other broodmates, she was the weakest. Only her strategical skills were of any value, and even then she's tetering on a knife's edge toward her own disposal. The thought made Envy grin with a slit-eyed sneer.

Speaking of which, the same aforementioned woman emerged from the darkness in the deeper shadows of the chamber like a silent wraith, purple-maroon eyes cold and narrowed as she glared at her brother Envy, awaiting what he had to report.

"Tell me what you found, Envy!" Lust growled, as opposed to her usual cold, sultry and impassive voice.

Envy smiled slightly in satisfaction at his sister's irritation. The shapeshifter had grown tired and irritated with hearing Lust's self-arrogant tone of voice about their accomplishments in their plans as if she alone had done the work.

"I _found_ nothing." Envy said with false ire in his voice. "The whole damn town's deserted. I can't even guess when or where they left. Maybe the humans left after seeing Cornello was just a fake and went elsewhere. There are tracks going every direction, like they left in a hurry. Oh, and by the way; this is your fault they're gone because you insisted on waiting until the commotion died down. Way to fuck up the plans, hag!"

Lust ignored Envy's last insult and grinded her teeth together infrustration, her jaw strength cracking several molars which healed immediately after. What could have happened that made the humans depart so suddenly?

A childlike, gutteral voice suddenly called out. "Lust! I found something! Lust!"

Envy and Lust both turned their sights toward the arched opening where Gluttony was on all fours and sniffing the stone like a blood hound. The shapeshifter and seductress strided over toward their gluttonous broodmate to see what he found.

"What is it you smell, Gluttony?" Lust asked the bald creature.

"I smell Fullmetal. Fullmetal was here. At least a couple minutes. Scent's hours old, but he was here."

Lust and Envy shared a look. If Fullmetal was listening on their conversation, that would explain why the town was deserted. He must have warned them.

"Why is it you didn't notice the runt was there if he had been here as long as you say?" Envy demanded to his broodmate, who shrugged sheepishly.

"I was only interested in smelling and eating the priest, and the blood must have kept me from sniffing Fullmetal's scent."

"Can you track Fullmetal's scent?" Lust asked with a tone of viciousness, making the shapeshifter smile in sadictive delight.

Gluttony nodded hastily, and even he led the way out the church with his broodmates following close behind, Envy couldn't keep the sneer of his face.

It was still dark out when the broodmates reached the city gate fences, and Gluttony immediately began sniffing for the older Elric's scent, dragging his large nose through the fine grain sand while Lust and Envy watched and waited. After several minutes, Gluttony raised himself, signaling he found the scent, but he didn't point in any direction nor where the scent led, only turning his sights back and forth to west and south like a confused child.

"What is it NOW!?" Lust snapped impatiently, making the routoned bald creature flinch as thought struck by a physical blow.

"I smell Fullmetal going west, but I also smell him going south. Lots of scents go west, only Fullmetal's go both ways. Can't tell which way he go."

Envy rubbed the back of his head, exhasperated after finding their plans were ruined with the city abandoned. "So now what do we do?" Envy asked the glowering Lust. "There's no humans in the town, which means no sacrifices and the military will just leave as soon as they arrive when the find the city empty. Do we wait for the military, or do we pursue Fullmetal?"

Lust was silent, considering Envy's words. Both dierctions Gluttony panned to led to different towns which held train stations to allow the Elric Brother's travel to the military districts, but which one would he be heading towards?

"Envy, you go west while Gluttony and I go south. If you find Fullmetal before us, contact and wait for Pride to issue new orders from Father. Otherwise we'll lose track of the Elrics."

_'Unless of course we just wait for him at any of the military districts'_, Envy thought, but nodded and kept silent. It had been a long time since he had seen Lust get so worked up, and he didn't want to miss seeing for himself.

Calling upon his shapeshifting powers, Envy's body changed, becoming smaller and sprouted black feathers from his flesh while his neck lengthened, his head curved and sleeked into a vulture's, and his legs thinned and grew sharp talons at the feet. The result of his transformation was a vulture the size of pit-bull dog with a wingspan as large as Lust was tall.

Envy gave an experimental flap of his wings and screeched in his vulture voice in approval before he took off into the air due west, while Lust and Gluttony trecked on foot the other direction.

Envy's screeches were the only sound that pierced the silent stillness.

To Be Continued...


	2. Ch2 The name's Martel

**Disclaimer: I don't Fullmetal Alchemist or anything else, just the plot of this fic. **

**The name's Martel**

Edward rushed across the freshly cut grass lawn as quickly as his little feet could carry him, an item grasped firmly and protectively in his small hands.

Here was his home, a small cottage house nestled in the countryside of Amestris with fields of green grass and dull wheat and barely. The skies were bright and speckled with multiform-shaped clouds that blockaded the summer sun's harsh glare. A garden of vegetables and fruits were grown beside the house, and there Edward saw the object of his search: His mother; Trisha Elric.

She was a pretty mother of around thirty years, with an angelic face framed by her smooth honey-brown hair bound by a hair band over her right shoulder. She wore a lavender dress that reached her shins with a white apron over it, which she was using to hold the tomatoes she was gathering from the vegetable patch. Her eyes were a greenish grey, an uncommon eye color for an Amestrian.

"Mom!" Edward cried excitedly when he spotted his mother, "I got a present for you, Mom!"

Trisha put the last tomato she picked and placed in her apron, then knelt down for Edward to show her his gift. "What is it?"

Edward grinned excitedly, holding up a silver toy horse in his small palms for his mother to take. "It's a gift for you, Mom!"

Trisha looked at the toy horse in Ed's hands with wonder and asked "Oh, for me? Where did you get this?"

Edward's grin grew bigger, threatening to split his head in half. "I _transmuted_ it! I put it together with _alchemy_!"

Trisha started and looked back at Edward with surprise. "Y-you did?" She stuttered, "I-I guess you do take after your father." Her lips curved up into a delighted smile, and she stroked Edward's golden blond hair affectionately. "Thank you, Edward. Such a wonderful gift you made for me, and you put it together so well."

Hearing his mother's praise on his toy horse made a swell of pride fill Ed's chest, almost at the brink of bursting from his chest. To see his mother smile at him like that was worth more than any possession Edward could think of. His mother's smile was one of the only reasons he even got up from his bed every morning.

His delight was quickly extinguished as another feeling crept into him, a primal fear that alerted the tiny blond boy of something not being right about this moment, as though he had seen this event take place countless times and always failed to devote it to memory to warn himself in the future. An involuntary shiver went up his spine and he tried to shake the feeling off, focusing his attention back to his mother.

"But it's too bad..." Trisha said with a sad, mournful tone, "..._** you couldn't put me back together again**_."

Edward stepped back in fright at the change of his mother's voice and looked up-

Only to feel total fear freeze his muscles and senses in an iron grip as he watched blood slowly seep out of every facial crevice of Trisha's angelic face: From her ears, her nostrils, her mouth, and eyes. The maniacal sneer dominating her face made her look like a tortured angel. Edward wanted to scream, run away, or at least weep in despair as his beloved mother was dying in front of his eyes and he felt he could do nothing but watch as his own overwhelming fear sank in deep talons mercilessly into Ed's chest, petrifying his movements, all the while he felt his lungs and heart struggle to take in air as the shock froze all sense from his mind. This couldn't be real, it couldn't be happening!

And without warning, Trisha's body fell to pieces at Edward's feet along with his silver toy horse and the tomatoes his mother picked, falling into a gory pile of blood, severed body parts, effluvia and smashed pieces of tomato with a wet, squelching sound. The smell of copper, iron and open bowels tainted the air and made Edward gag from the horrible stench. Rain clouds gathered overhead, enshrouding the land under a curtain of darkness, and the pile of gore vanished from sight like smoke in the wind.

Suddenly, a cold, steel-hard hand gripped Edward's shoulder from behind, its grip vice-like and merciless until the fingertips were digging into the skin and drew blood from the punctured skin, making the young boy wince in pain, but otherwise stayed silent, too scared to utter any sound from his throat.

**_"It's all your fault."_** said a cold, raspy voice behind Edward, harsh and sadistic. The speaker's breath felt colder than winter's wind and smelled of rotting flesh. **_"It's all your doing. You made the mistake of attempting what shouldn't have been done, and now your brother suffers for your arrogance. _You_ pressured him into assisting you! _You_ promised him you would succeed! _You_ promised him you would bring your mother back from death! And now he's naught but a soul bound to an empty suit of armor, unable to feel anything but despair at the purgatory you trapped him into! All because of _YOU**

Edward couldn't bring himself to deny the voices' accusations, knowing in his heart that every word was true. It was his fault; he was too full of himself, too overconfident, and he caused his brother's suffering by destroying his body and binding his soul to a suit of armor, unable to eat, unable to sleep, unable to even feel the sun's warmth or the wind's touch. He trapped his brother inside a prison.

Not for the first time, Ed wondered if he should have let Alphonse die. Anything was better than his present purgatory.

But he didn't. Edward brought him back from the clutches of death for his selfish wishes, not wanting to be alone in a world without the only family he had left.

The hand on his shoulder tightened its grip, the darkness began to descend upon him, like a cloud of living evil, tendrils of shadow emerging from its endless depths. Every tendril held small fingers at their tips, like the hands of a new-born infant, but they coiled and wrapped around Edward's limbs and body like merciless serpents, dragging him deeper into the darkness as the tendrils forcefully maneuvered him to face the darkness. Edward still couldn't scream, only able to release a shuddering sigh, his lungs bereft of oxygen, unable to draw another breath, as if death already pulled him into nothingness.

Within the center of the dark abyss, a single, blood-shot red eye opened gapingly wide, boring its illusive gaze onto Ed, boring into his very soul, exposed and vulnerable without hope of protecting himself from the darkness. Beneath the giant eye, a crescent-shaped opening appeared, widening until it formed into a wide-mouthed grin of perfect, gleaming-white teeth. The eye's pupil dilated, fixing its gaze onto Edward as he was slowly, inexorably dragged deeper into the void, and still Edward couldn't scream, even as he watched in horror as his arm and leg disintegrated piece by piece like a cast made of puzzle pieces being broken down and drifting into the void as if carried by the wind. There was no escape.

**_"It's time to take what's ours, Little Fool. Time to pay the price in full...with interest."_**

Edward finally managed a bellowing scream as the darkness took him.

* * *

I awoke in a flourish, bolting myself upright from my back like an arrow. My breathing was fast, frantic and shuddering, and my clothes and bed sheets were damp with sweat, yet I felt chilled to the bone. My skin turned goose flesh from the biting cold. Why was the temperature so low?

It was dark outside, by what I could see outside the curtained window from beside my bed. A massive storm was raging outside, sending down sheets of rain water down from the sky, splashing against the window panes and the roof-top like sleet, making an irritating noise like pebbles clinking and bouncing on a glass surface, or needles striking a table-top. Lightning flashed overhead, illuminating the inside of the room with flashes of white light, followed by the deafening crash of thunder that boomed and reverberated through my heaving chest like a drum. I was surprised the storm hadn't awoken my before my nightmare's conclusion did, but that became the least of my concerns.

My auto-mail limbs were throbbing with pain now, like my connective nerves were wedged between the metal plates like plier clamps. This pain always comes to my limbs when the air is thick with moisture, and I'm always questioning whether the pain comes from the accumulated moisture gathering onto my auto-mail nerve circuits or if it's phantom pain from my memory of the night Al and I attempted to bring our mother back from the grave. It was raining on that day too.

Flashes of memory flickered behind my eyes. I remember only little after I realized our transmutation failed. Gathering the ingredients for the body; marking the transmutation circle; cutting our fingers to provide the blood as the conduit for the soul to return to the body; a flash of blue light when Al and I pressed our palms onto the transmutation circle; the light turning dark; Al's screams for help as his body was taken into the void, disintegrated before my eyes; the searing pain of my leg following Al's body...So much happened in only an hour's time it seemed like a dream...a dream leaving scars of regret and despair. Wounds that may never heal.

And then there was how I lost my arm. After my brother's body was taken, knowledge flooded into my brain, threatening to split my head in two, and I traded my arm for my brother's soul, binding it to a suit of armor nearby inside my fa- Hohenhiem's study room. I don't remember much after that, as I fell unconscious from the blood loss I suffered. But even after I had (unintentionally) cost my brother his flesh-and-blood body, he still carried me to Aunt Pinako's home so I could recuperate. I could never thank him enough for helping me, staying by my side after all we've been through.

I craddle my metal-and-wire leg to my chest in effort to ease the pain, but I know it does nothing to help. So I wait, wait for the pain to pass with the storm. "It hurts..."

I hate rain storms.

On the other bed beside mine was Rose, sleeping peacefully and soundly despite the raging storm outside the room window. Her hair splayed across her pillow like black silk, while her rose-pink bangs practically glowed in the darkness. Another flash of lightning illuminated the room for the briefest instant, high-lighting Rose's soft features as she settled against her pillow with her face facing me, the covers of her bed slightly pulled away from her shoulder, revealing the strap of her dress slipping down her arm. I stared for a while at the rather alluring sight, then looked away almost guiltily, my cheeks hot and burning. What was wrong with me?

Al was sitting with his back against the foot of my bed, his massive hollow legs crossed in a meditative pose, as still and silent as a statue. Since he could not sleep, this was his only semblance of rest to relax himself. His large armor body could reach to my shoulder when sitting down, his size was so great. Not for the first time did I wonder who that armor was meant for before Hohenheim had purchased it.

The fact they could sleep through this storm so deeply and blissfully unaware made me feel envious of them, knowing well enough I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep with all the noise the storm outside was making, and I didn't want to visit that nightmarish dream again. I'd rather feel terrible tomorrow morning than wake up from another nightmare.

A strand of my sweat-damp hair tickled my cheek, and I remember I still hadn't fixed my hair yet after I severed my braid and let the winds carry it away to lead those creatures from Liore off our trail. I still had my doubts as to whether my plan would succeed or not, but I'd rather have taken a small chance of leading our pursuers off our tracks than separate myself from Al. I was still fearful of encountering those creatures; Envy, Lust, and Gluttony, face-to-face, what with their preternatural powers being unlike anything I had seen yet (In Envy's case, that is. Even a novice can make a spear of rock like Lust made her finger-tips into lances.)

I shook my head to dismiss my lingering thoughts, threw my covers aside, and strode into the bathroom with a pair of scissors in hand. This would take awhile, and I wasn't going to get any sleep with the storm raging outside, nor did I want to be visited by those nightmares.

I hate rain storms.

* * *

Sunlight spilled through the curtained window with rays of pale light penetrating the room and fell onto Rose's sleeping form.

The warmth of the morning light rouse Rose from her sleep, squinting her eyes through the bright light that streamed through the window and refracted through the water droplets on the window pane. She rose from her laying position and stretched languidly, her sheets falling in a crumpled heap on her bed. She looked toward the window speckled with water drops, suggesting a rain storm had recently passed by.

When Rose didn't immediately recognize the room she was in, flashes of memory passed through her recollection of yesterday evening when she and the Elric Brothers traversed through the Great Desert and reached the small town of Dust Bowl late around midnight, where Edward obligingly paid for a room in the nearest hotel they could reach, just on the fringes of the town's borders. When looking at the bed under the window where Edward was suppose to be occupying, she saw it was empty with the sheets tossed aside. Where was Ed?

The bathroom door opened with a _click_ on Rose's left and turned to the sound. When the door opened fully, the person Rose saw didn't look familiar for a moment but recognized his metallic arm and golden eyes. It was Edward, dressed in his black leather pants and muscle shirt, though he looked different.

His hair had been trimmed shorter, tapered down on the sides of his head and above his neck. Rose found herself staring, finding the new haircut showed Edward's face more, giving him a rather handsome appearance. She blushed at her line of thought and quickly looked to avoid locking gazes.

Edward was thankfully unaware of Rose's stares and patted his hair dry with a white towel in his hands, clearly having finished with a shower just recently after he trimmed his hair. He turned to her and gave her a grin while giving his morning formalities as he stepped over to Al's statue-still form, his legs cross in a meditative posture he had been in only hours ago. Ed shook Al's tri-spiked shoulder slightly, making the armored body sway slightly and Al's red-rimmed, glowing white eyes flared through the half-circle eye openings of the helmet for his head.

Al turned to Edward shaking his shoulder and leapt up onto his feet and immediately went into a defensive position, not recognizing Edward's new hair cut and making Ed flinch back and Rose jump from her bed in surprise. "Brother! Get up! There's someone here who looks just like me!" Alphonse spared a quick glance to Ed's bed only to find it empty and the sheets tossed aside. Al did a double-take and peered closely at Edward, finally recognizing his auto-mail limbs and golden eyes, along with his clothes that were unmistakably his brother's.

"Big Brother?" Al asked hesitantly, resting a massive gauntlet hand onto Edward's metallic shoulder, as if to dispel a possible illusion.

Edward looked sheepish and ruffled his short-cut hair. "Sorry for the scare. I just thought of getting my hair trimmed after yesterday and this was the only other hairdo I could think of." Before he could go further into his explanation to avoid unsettling Al, the armored young alchemist spoke with a voice full of emotion.

"You...thought about me when you cut your hair?" Edward nodded, still uncomfortable with how Al might take possible offense, but his fears were relieved when Al spoke excitedly "You look just like me, Big Brother. I thought for a second I was looking in a mirror."

After that fiasco was settled and having a simple breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon provided by the lodge (Al didn't eat, since he didn't need to, or could), the trio set off through the town as a leisurely pace, passing by some towns' people in formal wear as wagons were carried across from one building and plaza side to another, until they reached their destination (Edward was in the lead, having said after their breakfast of teaching Rose some of the basics of alchemy, and to spar with Alphonse.)

While Ed and Al kept ahead of Rose to speak alone, the tanned girl watched their backs with envy, wondering if she would ever know the same kind of closeness as the Elric Brothers shared. But then Rose felt the ground beneath her shift from under her feet until it came to startling stop, leaving the older girl nauseated as she took in her surroundings.

All around her, color was nonexistent, only shades of grays filling in her vision as she looked around. She could still see the town's inhabitants walking past her and the buildings themselves, only the people around her looked ghostly, pale gray and moved like they simply drifted off the ground without drive. Fear raced through Rose's senses as the scene around her began to unsettle her and turned to Ed and Al only to stop in her tracks.

While Ed seemed the only one more real than the rest of the people around him, the figure walking along side him wasn't the giant armor Alphonse. In his place looked like Ed's physical double; the same height, the same hair, even the same golden eyes and hearty smile. His body glowed snowy white, with no clothes on him and only his head and face perceptible at the distance Rose stood.

And just as quickly as it came, the world lurched again beneath her feet and color filled her sight, time seemed to reset itself and the people around her walked briskly as before, unaware of what she had seen. Rose gasped then exhaled a shuddered breath and looked to the Elric Brothers, seeing only a blond young man beside a large suit of armor. She hurriedly rushed up beside them and didn't mention anything of what she had just experienced.

When they finally reached their destination; a withered grove of dried brown grass and dead gray trees twice as tall as Al, Edward led Rose away from the grove's podium where Al began his combat forms, having need of wide space to accommodate his large size and long reach. While the sound of heavy movements of metal carried with them, Edward and Rose ventured further away for their own training.

"As my teacher told me before, 'To train the mind, first train the body.' So we'll do a few exercises to get your blood pumping and do some sparring so you have some means of defending yourself. Ready?" Rose nodded and set about their regimen.

Edward made Rose do several long exercises of basic breathing control and maintaining balance on both hands and feet, ending with having her climb the dead trees three times to give her some strength and coordination training. Thankfully, Rose had chosen to wear gray pants and a long-sleeved shirt that kept her from receiving any significant scratches. As soon as she was done, Edward had Rose sit and slow her breathing. When she could breathe normally again, Edward brought her out into a more open space of the dead grove, where three paces of distance separated them.

"Tell me Rose. Do you remember what Al told you about the laws of alchemy?" Rose didn't say anything for a few seconds but nodded slowly. "Then if you know the basic principles, answer me this question: What is the meaning of One is All, All is One?"

"'All is One? One is All'?"Rose repeated, perplexed at the statement. "I don't know what that means. Alphonse didn't tell me-"

"The is the main test to see if you understand Alchemy itself" Edward interrupted with an even tone, "Some questions cannot be answered for you; You must answer them yourself. You already know the answer, because Al gave you the information about Alchemy's basic principles. Use what you know to find the answer, and if you cannot give me the correct answer, I won't teach you."

Rose was about to protest, but Edward rushed toward her like a charging bull and tackled her to the ground by his flesh-and-blood shoulder, though it still hurt like the hell blazes. She crashed onto her back against the soil, her chest constricted in numbing pain from where Ed's shoulder rammed into it, and she was fighting the pain in her chest to draw breath.

"Now we're going to do some sparring so you can fight off your opponents. I won't use my auto-mail limbs, but I won't be too lenient on you just because you're an inexperienced girl. Get up on your feet and stand ready. The best teacher is pain and experience."

Rose slowly climbed to her feet, her unsteady legs staggering under her weight and forced herself to breathe deeply. The pain in her chest was constricting, but she realist Edward was teaching her to fight even when hurt because her enemies wouldn't give her the opportunist to gather her bearings. Seeing Edward offering her the initiative, she rushed forward.

Their spar must have only lasted for less than ten minutes, but Rose's stamina melted like butter within that time and could barely fend off any of Edward's most basic attacks. When she crumpled to the ground, Edward knelt beside her and showed her how to form a proper fist, how to throw an effective punch, where the most vulnerable spots around the body were that she could strike, even some grappling methods of twisting wrists and hand blows away. While she had little brute strength or aggressiveness, Rose took to most of the lessons zealously with passable results, but some of it she couldn't grasp due to her fatigue. At least she knew how to escape from someones grasp and deliver a decent blow.

Limbs aching, her clothes damp with sweat and dirty with dust and dirt, her chest heaving with labor, Rose followed Ed on unsteady feet toward where Alphonse was still moving through his fighting forms with adamantine concentration. On Edward's approach, however, Al looked in Ed's direction and Rose could almost see the change in demeanor from stoic and impassive to excited and eager even without having an actual face.

By an unspoken accord, Ed and Al shifted into their respective combat stances, shoulders angled, feet spread, knees bent, arms held out and close, eyes forward. Neither moved an inch, still as the dead trees around them, their eyes never straying from the others gaze. Rose caught sight of a stray leaf above the facing brothers and watched as it danced and fluttered through the air as it came closer to the ground of dry grass.

As soon as the leaf touched ground, the Elric Brothers exploded into action. Edward rushed low toward Al as the larger Elric Brother snapped a powerful kick to Ed's legs, a blow that could have broken the legs in half had Edward not jumped over the kick and answered with a drop kick against Al's armor body, bashing Al back by the inertial power behind Ed's kick like a battering ram. Ed regained his footing in a blink and rushed after his unsteady brother, tripping him by a sweep kick and taking his footholds from under the empty giant.

Al regained his footing expertly and grabbed Ed's auto-mail leg under his arm as it almost struck his chin, swinging his older brother around like a paper-weight before he released his hold and threw him almost ten yards away to prepare himself for the next attack. He didn't have to wait long though, since Edward landed on his feet like a cat and rushed toward Al once again, fists flying and kicks swinging, all the while slipping in and out of his brother's large reach.

Throughout their sparring, Rose watched with transfixed awe at the Elric Brother's skill. While Alphonse was no doubt the most physically strongest of the two, like a hard, sturdy rock, Edward was the most skillful and maneuverable like water, weaving in and out of Al's reach and defenses. While Al would attack with crushing force, Ed would counter with fluidity and precision. It was like watching a fight between a bear against a hunting cat.

Suddenly, when Al spun with his kick, Edward crouched low to the ground and watched the kick rush past over him, ready for Al's return spin and rushed under Al's guard just as the younger Elric threw his fist toward Ed's head, only for his older brother to catch his outstretched arm by the wrist and elbow.

Off guard and off balance, Al realized too late what Ed's move was until Edward gripped Al's thick arm -twice as thick and long as Edward's- over his shoulder, spun with the momentum of Al's spin, and pulled Al's body over him with unexpected strength, throwing the large suit of armor over his shoulder and into one of the dead, gray trees nearby, splintering the husk's dry bark with a loud _clang_. Alphonse fell onto the dry grass in a daze.

"Amazing" Rose said in a breath, watching Ed's proud and surprised expression that told her she wasn't the only one who hadn't expected his victory. It seemed he had been on the receiving end of many defeats by Al in their earlier spars.

"It's been a while since I managed to beat you again" Ed said with a heavy exhale, apparently having stressed himself for throwing his brother over his shoulder, though a smile adorned his lips. A feat in itself for throwing a giant suit of armor as far as he did. "Are you slipping or something, Al?"

"No, but some miracles to do happen sometimes" Al teased when standing once more. When Ed mock-scowled at him, Al sighed tiredly. "No, Big Brother. I think you've just seen my attacks so often you found my weakness...as you always do. Or you've gotten better." Al shrugged his massive, spiked shoulders. "Who can say?"

Edward still held his sour look, but otherwise was already making his way to Dust Bowl town, Rose and Al following close behind, but Edward stopped suddenly and motioned for Rose to come closer to him.

"Stay at least fifteen seconds behind us" Edward said seriously when she reached him. "I don't want any one watching to see you with us and make you as an easy target if they attempt something against us. Understood?"

Rose nodded. She waited for Ed and Al to get ahead of her until she fell in step behind by ten paces when the trio entered the parameters of Dust Bowl. Thankfully, as the trio made their way to their hotel, the main plaza was crowded with people, providing ample coverage for Rose to anyone possibly watching the Elric Brothers.

Halfway to their destination, Rose saw Edward pan his sights to some shops along the opposite side of the street. He turned back to Al and said something Rose couldn't make out between the distance and interference from the surrounding crowds and made a beeline toward them while Al continued his march. Finding it better to follow Alphonse than Edward, Rose stayed on her path until they reached the hotel where Al had Rose hide inside his armor body as they went to their lodgings.

What must have been an hour passed before Edward finally returned, carrying two bags in his hands and plopping them onto Rose's bed.

"Where've you been, Ed?" Rose asked.

"Shopping for different clothes and such. I had to take a different route when I noticed I was being followed by someone, but I couldn't tell who it was. I managed to lose him before he could follow me. Here." Edward dumped the contents of the bags onto the comforter; clothes, make-up, hair tonics, and a large brown leather coat.

"What are these for, brother?" Al asked, picking up the leather trench coat and holding it outstretched. The holes in the shoulders suggested it was for him and, after trying it on, was a perfect fit.

"I'll explain after I've filled you two in on what happened yesterday in Liore at Leto's Temple." Rose and Al both saw and heard the strain in his face and voice as he said this and wondered silently if they were in any imminent danger. As Edward told them of the trio Envy, Gluttony, and Lust, what they did to Cornello and what they had planned to do with the town. Rose paled considerably while Al was shaking with either fury, disgust, or horror, Edward couldn't be certain which, but knew better than to ask and further upset his brother.

It was Rose that broke the silence. "What could they possibly want with me? I was just...used as a servant to...make the people of Liore..."

Ed and Al didn't say anything as Rose fell short of her private monologue. They had heard from the dead priest himself he just used Rose as a go-between to give more credence to the so-called "prosperous joy" of Leto's religion, when it had been in fact just a rouse to gather susceptible pawns for his purposes to start a _coup de tat_against Amestris and become ruler.

Edward changed the subject. "I can't say for certain, but based on what I heard from Envy, these...creatures have some ties with the military. Al and I will have to go to Head Quarters within a month to deliver an assessment report, so we need to watch and be careful of anyone around us. I don't think there are any people Envy _can't_ impersonate, so we need to keep a close watch on any suspicious activity in the military districts. Even among ourselves."

After a time of tense silence, Al considered to alleviate the stifling atmosphere. "Let's just go to bed. It's late, and...I don't want to hear anything else about Envy, or Lust or Gluttony or any of these things...Can we turn in now?"

Ed nodded. "Alright. Let's get some sleep."

Despite having turned in for the night, only Edward stayed awake long after Rose and Al fell asleep. So many thoughts kept skimming throughout his mind as he questioned and pondered about everything he had learned and seen thus far in the search for the Philosopher's Stone, which started almost four years ago. There seemed to be some kind of pattern, a symmetry of the many events he and his brother had seen and been a part of.

The real question that nagged at his mind was what kept him awake almost until sunrise when exhaustion finally took him into oblivion: How did it all connect?

* * *

When the blond alchemist's eyes finally closed, Envy had to bite his lip to keep from whooping in relief. He'd thought the alchemist brat would _never_ get to sleep.

Dropping from his perch on the window sill in his cat form, Envy landed lightly and sauntered away down the street, leaving a trail of deep paw-prints in the still-wet soil. Having soared aimlessly through the desert skies in search of the Elric Brothers was a chore the shape-shifter did not want to repeat. Especially since the same storm from the night before had sent him completely off his original course and left him to trek by land to search for the nearest town. Walking through a desert was a damn boring trek either in a man or animal shape.

Thankfully for Envy, the shape-shifter reached the town of Dust Bowl just two hours ago in the guise of a cloaked man. Since the desert's harsh conditions demanded any denizen protect themselves from the sun's harmful rays, heavy clothing was common to ward off most of the hot light and humidity and Envy managed to blend in almost mockingly well into the crowd without attracting any attention. It was only after morning that he began to shift guises and asked around any passersby of a blond kid and a large suit of armor, but no one had seen them enter the town nor had they seen anyone resembling the appearance of the Elric Brothers. Envy had nearly assumed over a dozen different shape-shifts and was ready to call it quits, deciding that Fullmetal and his brother would eventually return to some military district where Pride could watch them, but not before he'd finally found the object of his search.

During the early hours around noon, Envy had only managed to spot the older Elric Brother when walking through the main plaza of the frontier town, when the Fullmetal Alchemist had emerged from one of the food markets with an arm full of bags. Praising his brief show of fortune, the shape-shifter stalked Edward until he reached the thicker assembly of crowds and lost him when the blond alchemist realized he was being followed and took a detour through the building alleys. After nearly another hour of tiring search, Envy found the older and younger Elric Brothers in the same hotel room.

But the Elric Brothers were not the only room occupants. That tanned girl, Cornello's ex-assistant, was sleeping on the parallel bed beside Fullmetal's.

Envy grinned saditiously. Everything was going according to Father's plan. But first off...

Another burst of alchemical voltage and flesh manipulation, Envy changed from his small, feline body and made it expand until the tail disappeared and fingers replaced his clawed toes. His skull turned from dome- to oval-shape and his fangs receded into square molars. Once his fur had disappeared and replaced with human skin and clothes, Envy's transformation was complete.

In his guise as an ordinary human, his appearance was average at best. Long sleeved shirt, rough-cloth pants -both frayed at the sleeve ends- and a hooded cowl. Medium height, average build, short-cropped brown hair, somewhat angular features, Envy's new disguise could allow him to be mistaken for anyone. It was his favorite (and most effective) disguise in his arsenal of transformations to look like a human.

After checking to make sure no one was in sight, Envy sauntered down the street to the nearest payphone, whistling a merry tune of Ode to Joy. He had a few calls to make before catching up with Lust and Gluttony.

* * *

A vast white space expanded all around him, endless and without means of telling what was up, down, right, or left. The brightness of it all should have blinded him, but he felt no discomfort; rather, just a sense of detachment from himself, as though he was no more than a ghost. He didn't question how or why he came to be here, where or who he was. It was all surreal, peaceful. He felt asleep but knew at the same time he wasn't.

He was neither somewhere, or nowhere, but everywhere!

Heedless of where he went, Edward wandered aimlessly about. After only (minutes? Hours? Days? Impossible to tell) a short while later, a dark speck in the distance caught his eye and he ran toward it without stop. Unaware he wasn't even breathing as he slowly closed the distance between himself and the object, Edward's keen eyesight saw the object being a rectangular slab of stone. Due to the distance separating him from his destination, it was impossible to gauge the distance or any finer details.

Upon reaching the stone slab, Edward noticed several things about the giant tablet. Instead of standing balanced on one of its shorter sides, the slab of auburn stone levitated above the surface Edward stood upon, casting a perfect thin shadow of a rectangle. Easily twenty feet tall and ten feet wide, it was a monument beyond anything Edward had ever imagined. And yet, for some reason, he felt like he had seen this thing before but forgotten from where he'd seen it.

Despite the absence of discomfort from the harsh and near blinding-bright light, it took several moments for Edward's eyesight to adjust and see the finer details of the alter tablet, the side facing Edward cast in shadow with it leaning slightly forward. When his eyes did adjust, Edward was able to see the fine carvings on the slab's surface.

It looked like an uprooted, upside-down palm tree with nine limbs branching from its thin, rune-marked stem, and ten palm leaves like bird feathers that formed a fan, the very top of the tablet bearing the gnarled-looking roots that fanned outward like spider legs. A intricate sunburst dominated the background behind the tree. Ten double circles -One on each end of the Eight branching limbs, one at the root-center and the other in the center of the feather-like palm leaves- held writing within them in the main circle and the outer ring. From the bottom-most to the top circles, the writing revealed:

In the outer ring was written **_Malcuth Requium Imperium Ramus 9_**. that encircled around the main circle _**Adonai**_. To its upper-right, **_Iesod: Basis Redemptio Ramus 8, Elchai-vel: Sadai_**, and then to the next like in a zigzag path, _**Hod: Lous Homor Formositar Ram .7, Elohim Sabaoth;**_ _**Netreth: Triumphus Ram .6, Iehova Saboath; **__**Tepherets: Gracia Pulchritado Ram .5, Eloah;**_ _**Gebura: Potestas Soueritae Ram .4, Elohim gibor; Chesed: Clementia Bonita Ram .3, El: Pater; **_**_Binah:_** _**Prudencia Intelligentia Ram .2, Elohim; Hochma**Sephentia Ramus .1,** Ian**Filius; _and at the very top withing the spreading crowned roots; _**Cheter** **Corona Radix Arboris Sephi**, **Ehieh Pater**_.

The Tree of Sephiroth: The first preconceived symbol of the beginnings -and ends- of all that is the study and teachings of Alchemy.

Edward stared wide-eyed at the giant tablet, unable to breathe. Memories from as if a previous life flooded into his mind, a thousand images flashing past his eyes. The night of he and his brother's attempt to resurrect their mother from the grave, over four years ago, Edward had stood before this same tablet.

The Portal of Truth. The source of all alchemical energy in the universe.

**_"Hello, Little Fool."_**

Edward stiffened, purely by reflex but undoubtedly due to his overwhelming fear. That was the same voice he heard in his dream -no, his nightmare- before he had awoken; cheery and yet sibilant, but boundlessly colder than ice. With a hammering heart, Edward turned and faced the source of his long-time fears.

At first glance, there appeared to be nothing. But a subtle dark outline like black mist highlighted the shape of a humanoid, sitting with one elbow propped on one upright knee, the figure was featureless and without any discerning dimensions. The space where his mouth -the thing sitting must be male, since his voice was too deep to be otherwise- stretched into the faint shadowy outline of a toothy grin. A shudder shook through Ed's spine. The smile was far too much like the cat that ate the canary.

_**"It's been too long since you and I last met"**_ the being said in a mocking tone yet almost boyish voice,**_ "I see you've obtained some new limbs since our last encounter and...yes, something_ more...**

Edward said nothing, but his eyes couldn't help but scan across the white being until his golden eyes settled on the only limbs that looked "real" on the being's body: A right arm and left leg of flesh and blood.

_His_ limbs.

Involuntarily, he panned his sights toward his auto-mail limbs and saw only black shapes of them in their place, as though they were swallowed in impenetrable darkness. That couldn't be right. Even in some his more pleasant dreams, his limbs had never looked like this. But then again, he had never visited the white being, whom Edward knew only as "Truth", in his sleep. Something was wrong.

"What's going on?" Edward asked, "How can we be talking like this?"

If possible, Truth's grin stretched even wider. _**"How indeed! You never cease to amaze me with that calm, calculative intellect of yours."**_ One instant Truth was sitting down, the next he vanished and reappeared just inches away from Edward. For his credit, Ed didn't flinch. _**"The reason we are conversing with each other right now is that I've willed it so. There is something I must -and want to- tell you that is the up-most importance. For one, I've established a connection with your mind so you and I can speak when you sleep."**_

"How can you make a connection when I haven't even used any transmutation circles or-"

_**"Who said you needed a transmutation circle in the first place?"**_ Truth interrupted. _**"The reason you and I were able to meet face to face was because of the price that was paid for your mother's body."**_ Edward cringed, bringing a smile to Truth's face._** "Your brother's body was traded for your mother's, but because both of you had activated the transmutation circle, you passed through the initial layer of the dimension we are now inside, which allowed you to peek inside the Portal of Truth**_.

**_"Do you remember when I took your limbs as the toll for looking inside the gate?"_** After Ed nodded, Truth went on. _**"What you may or may not know is that all alchemical energy comes"**_ -Truth jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the levitating tablet- **_"from the Gate of Truth itself. When you glimpsed inside the portal, the knowledge that flooded your mind is what now allows you to perform alchemy by simply clapping your hands together to circulate your energy._**

**_"When you did so, the portal 'marked' you, if you will, by implanting an alchemic signature into your mind, which connects you to the Gate of Truth itself, if only by a small fraction, which allows you to perform alchemy without the aid of transmutation circles to draw energy from the portal. This same 'mark' is what allowed me to establish this -partial- connection so you and I could speak to one another. Although this connection can't permit you to exchange anything else for more knowledge from the portal, it has served its purpose."_**

Another shudder wracked Edward's spine from the last statement. Truth's smile broadened.

_**"As for your limbs, I would guess they've been removed from your body, and you are in rather serious trouble. I'd wager you're now captive."**_ Truth tilted his head to one side, a gesture of disappointment. _**"Too bad you cannot linger longer. I do so love having conversation with company."**_

Edward hadn't the time to even ask the white being what he meant when he felt a pull on himself dragging him away from the Gate of Truth, the distance yawning between them. The edges of his vision began to cloud and darken, and before all went black, he heard Truth's voice as if from far away.

_**"Until we meet again, Little Fool. I'll be waiting."**_

* * *

When Edward opened his eyes, his first thought was that he was still dreaming some God-forsaken nightmare and his head felt like someone had clubbed him in the skull with a sledge hammer. Pain clouded his eyes and made them unfocused as he tried to take in his surroundings.

The first thing he noticed was his auto-mail limbs were removed and his left arm was bound tight against his back with thick chain, his leg shackled by an iron chain and bolted to the wall of some rough-hewn carved, dome-shaped cave, maybe ten-or-so feet in diameter. The color of the stone layers suggested they were at least ten or more feet under ground, yet the humidity was stifling. The only light that illuminated the circular cavity was from a candle -half melted already and dripping wax onto the floor from its perch inside some small shelf depression- which provided enough to allow his eyes to adjust to the dim light.

Upon a second visual sweep of the cave, Edward found he wasn't the only occupant. A woman sat against the cave wall, her wrists and ankles bound with chain and bolted to the wall. Her hair was spiky and bright blond, her eyes slanted and cat-like, and her lips were enticingly full. She wore a sleeveless black shirt that strained against her rather full breasts and wore light khaki pants with matching leather boots. On her right shoulder was a tribal tattoo like a spiral that expanded outward with arrows and tendrils that coiled down her bicep and up along her neck where two ends ended at her cheeks, giving the illusion of dull red scars.

For some reason, the way her stare was leveled at him in the flickering candle light, he had the vaguest impression of holding his gaze with a snake. "About time you woke up" she said, "I was worried you were dead for a while there. Couldn't even tell if you were breathing. Looks like they did a number on you."

Painfully pushing himself upright, awkward as it was without the aid of any free limb, Ed groaned in suppressed agony. His vision dimmed, blackened, then cleared as the back of his head was throbbing in pain. Maybe his remark about having been hit with a sledge hammer was more accurate than he guessed. "How long have I been in here?"

The blond woman shrugged. "Can't say for sure. There's no clocks, no windows, nothing to tell the time. So I've been trying to gauge time with the candles our captors keep replacing." She pointed at the same candle on the depression sill with her chin.

Despite the dull throb in his head, Edward still had enough clarity to estimate the time. "How long were each of the candles?"

"No need to bother with that. Each candle burned for two-and-a-half hours; I know because counting the seconds and minutes is the only thing I could do while trapped in here." The blond woman paused, thinking about something. "I'd say you were here for about thirteen hours or so, since five candles have been replaced since you've been unconscious."

The pain in his head began to ebb, Edward focused his gaze toward the woman. "How did you get captured?"

"...That's a story for another time."

Now that his eyes had finally adjusted to the dim gloom, Ed could see where her pants and shirt were ripped, her cheeks bruised, her lip split, and the exposed skin blistered and cut around her legs. Her eyes were dark with sleep deprivation. She'd been tortured, though thankfully not too extensively.

Although... "Did they..?"

The woman shook her head. "Told them I'd bite my tongue off and bleed to death before I'd let them. They're waiting for me to go to sleep and drug me, or wait until I'm too exhausted to resist them. I haven't slept for almost four days. I don't know how long I'll last from this point." She fell silent after that, staring at her binds.

Edward felt a strange relief for the woman having not been violated...yet...but his focus then turned to remembering how and when he'd been taken captive.

Early morning that day, Ed, Al and Rose packed their things and began to set off for the nearest train station in the next town over -in disguise of course-. But upon going out into the town's main thoroughfare, screams erupted around them and gunfire thundered in the air, along with the pounding drum of stampeding gallop accompanied by yells of triumph. Bandits on horseback, numbering nearly twenty in all, rushed into Dust Bowl and began a raiding party. Bullets were fired, townsmen yelled and died, women screeched as they were caught and carried away on horseback toward the foothills of the town's outer borders, barrels and boxes of goods were pilfered and chartered away.

Ever as impulsive as before, Edward had rushed into the fray and used his alchemy skills to trips horses, beat down any close-by bandits, and releasing any captured hostages from the bandit's clutches before they got away. Alphonse was not far behind, using his greater size and height to easily drop bandit after bandit with his hand-to-hand combat skills and carrying anyone injured and wounded to safety. Rose had to stay hidden, seeing as she hadn't enough combat experience to be of much help without hindering the Elric Brother's efforts.

It wasn't until that, just as the bandits began their retreat, Edward remembered getting hit behind the head and falling unconscious. A cloud of kicked-up sand and dust had separated him from Al's sight and was carried away, the bandit's newest captive.

"My name's Martel, by the way. What's yours?"

The blond woman's voice snapped Edward from his recollections and he panned back to her. "My name? It's-" his cough interrupted him, his dry throat scratchy from having no water to moisten it. At least his cough gave him a moment to think of a false alias; the last thing he needed was having someone knowing who he was and endangering themselves because of it. "My name's Vincent. Vincent Isaacs."

"Vincent, huh?" Martel said with a soft lilt to her voice, "Strong name, I like it. So tell me, Vincent, what happened to you before-"

"Quiet!" Ed interrupted, "You hear that?"

Martel didn't hear anything at first, but after straining her ears, heard the unmistakable thump-thump-thump of footsteps outside their prison door. It didn't slow as the sound drew closer, and sound faded away only seconds later, undoubtedly someone passing through the intersecting tunnel. Edward breathed a little easier. Hopefully they won't be visited by any of the bandits anytime soon until Edward got his bearings and a basic understanding of their captors.

He turned back to Martel. "You don't mind if we pass the time sharing stories, do you?"

Martel smiled. An easy grin that carried some relief.

While she shared her tale, the candle burned still brightly.

* * *

Nearly twelve hours passed after the bandit raiding party retreated into the distant surrounding hills outside the borders of Dust Bowl. Just three hours earlier, dark storm clouds rolled in once more over the landscape, obscuring the sun behind the thick, dark canopy, leaving the landscape immersed in gray. The temperature was dropping, but an undeniable amount of moisture filled the air and the wind gales that dragged the storm toward the town were sharp and strong which carried the newly dried dust and dirt, the tell-tale signs that the atmospheric pressure and moisture from the previous storm was mixing together to form an even stronger storm.

As far as Rose was concerned, nothing of the world around her even existed at the moment. Her only thoughts were centered around the fate of her friend, Edward.

Dressed in dark clothing of varying shades of gray, brown and black with a cloth mask to ward away the flying dust whipping in the wind, Rose surveyed the area intently, trying to find some kind of trail left behind by the retreating bandits. Unfortunately, she had no such luck finding anything other than a few passing tumbleweeds.

Too many rock outcroppings, sheer stone spires, plateau's, and barren, rocky ground that left no obvious traces of hoof-prints. Although she wasn't a skilled tracker, having neither experience or in-depth knowledge, Alphonse basically had to teach her on the fly to search for tracks just before they separated in search for the bandit's trail.

Over half a day gone with Edward missing and they couldn't even find a trace to know where to start looking. _'At this rate, the only thing we may find later is Ed's auto-mail in some pawn shop.'_

Al tried to encourage her that Edward wasn't in dire trouble, considering the elder Elric brother had much more experience to handle such situations when traveling into hostile territories due to his military rank, which allowed him to venture out in pursuit of information involving the Philosopher's Stone.

Rose couldn't help but feel great sympathy for the Fullmetal alchemist, so engrossed into his search for some fabled stone that said could overcome the "laws of equivalent exchange", which Rose still had trouble comprehending, that it overruled almost everything else in his life, everything else that was important. With that recollection, she remembered Edward's proposal to teach her alchemy if she answered the question of the meaning of "All is One, One is All."

But then another thought came to mind. Did he even view most of what he had already in his life as important at all? Would he willingly throw away everything just for the chance to right the wrong he had made, correct the mistake that plagued him with guilt like an infectious disease that was slowly killing him inside out?

And would he so willingly throw it all away just to redeem himself to his brother? Or was it simply his desire to relieve himself of his guilt?

Tears came unbidden to her eyes and she hastily wiped them away, trying to keep her head strong. If not for her sake, then for Edward's. The last thing she wanted to compromise Ed's safety by letting herself drown in her own negative emotions.

A crack of distant thunder pulled Rose from her inner contemplations and she turned to the sound, noticing that the storm was coming closer, and quickly, carrying with it whipping bolts of lightning that arched and shot between the dark clouds and some even striking the ground. She'd have to get to shelter soon.

The tanned young woman turned her sights back to the rocky landscape once more, feeling a sense of hopelessness swell in her chest. Once the storm passed through the valley, every last trace of whatever tracks the bandit party left behind would be erased and washed away.

Against her better judgment, knowing the hypocrisy of her next decision would go against her new ideals, she looked toward the heavens and prayed to her god.

_'Leto, god of the shining light, whose radiance chases away all darkness, please keep Edward safe. Help me to save him. Hear my plea, I beg.'_

And without another moment, Rose turned around and jogged back toward Dust Bowl.

To Be Continued...


	3. Ch3 All is One, One is All

I'm back, BYATCH!! Damn it's been too long away from this fic of mine. Sorry about that, but I've been a little side-tracked with some of my other fanfics I got started on recently. That, and my "Fullmetal" groove kinda died for a while there. It wasn't until I read some of these recent chapters for the manga series that my interests came back to life.

Anyway, I've babbled enough. Here's the fic y'all have been waiting for.

**Disclaimer: I don't Fullmetal Alchemist or anything else, just the plot of this fic. **

**All is One, One is All **

"Some two or three years ago, I was a soldier for the southern border war with Aerugo. During an attack raid, I must've stepped on a land mine, 'cause the next thing I knew my body was nearly blown in half after an explosion blinded me. I fell unconscious just moments later, and I thought I was surely dead.

"My memories a little hazy after that, but when I woke up, I was on an operating table with scientists all around me, injecting countless different kinds of serums into me, testing the effects of their chemicals on me while I was still alive. Considering I was just one dying soldier, they had no qualms if I were killed by their experiments; I had no family, and my friends were all dead.

"Shortly after the men in white coats were done testing their medicines on me, they sent me to another compound, but I can't remember where. Too weak and still recovering, I had no say on the matter of my treatment. I awoke much later, barely conscious when they transported me someplace again, but I remember one of the scientists mentioning a man named Shou Tucker and giving him a new test subject: Myself.

"I wasn't the only critically wounded soldier brought in for experimentation. There must've been over dozens at least, and we were all given our own confinement cell. They were cramped, dark, and cold. They didn't even give us decent clothes to keep ourselves warm.

"Come to find later, after I healed enough to walk on my own, I heard this Shou Tucker guy was supposed to be a State Alchemist under orders by the President to continue the experiments. I was his fifteenth test subject.

"Some men stripped me of all my clothes and put me in the center of a transmutation circle. Someone else in the shadows tossed in a large snake in the circle as well, and the next thing I knew, there was a flash of bright light and pain like I was being ripped apart from the inside-out. I blacked out for a few seconds, but after I got back up, the snake was gone, and all my wounds disappeared. The men in lab coats called me a success story, the result of a perfect experiment of creating one of many human chimeras."

Martel paused in her story, looking down and snorting a mirthless laugh. Edward listened with rapt attention, wide-eyed like a child hearing a horror story; as much as he didn't want to hear it, he also couldn't resist knowing.

"I don't know what happened to the other wounded soldiers left for experimentation, but I heard at least twenty survived without suffering any irregularities. I couldn't be sure. Then a week later after my transformation, enemy forces began a surprise attack on the facility using mortars and tank rounds. The walls around several cells were destroyed in the attack, and I took that chance to escape along with some fifteen or so human chimeras as the facility was destroyed by mortar fire. I ran far away and only looked back to check if the facility was destroyed, and it was. There was nothing but smoldering rubble left behind the attack raid. I've been on the run ever since.

"After that fiasco, I was on my own again, stealing food and clothes as I passed through town after town, never stopping in one place for very long. I'm not proud of being a thief, but I wanted to survive, and I couldn't rejoin society again after what the military did to me and since I was a liability they would've exterminated if they found me.

"Two days ago I was traveling through this region to stop here for food and supplies and the bandits attacked me just on the outskirts of the town. After I killed four of their men, I was captured and bound and brought back here. That's the whole story."

Wide-eyed, Edward could only stare out at nothing, too perplexed to give a reaction from everything he heard from Martel's story. His first thought was that everything she told him were lies, propaganda she construed to discredit the military after her disbandonment. But then, what would be the point of her telling him? She didn't know he was a State Alchemist, or that he even worked for the military. She didn't have much to gain by telling him just for the slim hope she could conform him to her own cause, whatever it might be.

In spite of how much he wished otherwise, Edward knew all too well there were no limits to the State Military's pursuit to achieving their goals. Seeing as how they destroyed an entire country and its people without regard to morality, mercy, or justification, Ed understood that facts as they were; cold-hard truth.

Years ago, as a child, he believed alchemy, for all its miraculous and infinite capabilities, wasn't a tool to used for such abhorring tasks such as turning dying soldiers into half-man, half-beast beings. Such tasks were always written off as "impossible" and "forbidden" in every alchemy text book issued across Amestris.

But now, after hearing the story from Martel herself, Edward's perspective on the military, his very occupation, changed before his eyes. The fact that the State Military, after all its preachings to State Alchemists and aspiring ones alike, deformed and contradicted their own standards and regulations was an abuse of power that left a bad taste in his mouth. And to think he actually trusted the same bastards that twisted the use of alchemy for their own ends.

Experiments on humans being permitted in the military was one thing, but if Edward's hunch was right, he wouldn't doubt they also made it their trade policy, funding for more research and deforming human lives like they were guinea pigs. It was almost like a stab in the gut, only it bled away all the masks, the lies and illusions orchestrated around his views. His eyes were clear now, and hoped he would keep them clear from ever getting clouded over again.

_'I guess more things DO occur behind closed doors in the military than I knew'_, Edward thought, coming to grips with what he's learned from Martel. _'And to think I've been their dog for three years. I'm so damn stupid!'_

"You okay?" Martel asked, worried after Edward hadn't spoken after a few minutes in silence.

Ed started a bit at Martel's voice, then slumped back, relaxed. "I'm fine, it's just...a little overwhelming to take it all in at once, you know."

"I don't blame you." Martel replied. "I wouldn't believe it at first either if someone else told me a story like that. So what's your story? Like your arm and leg. Any family?"

"....My arm and leg got blasted off during the Ishbalan Extermination Campaign by artillery, on an attack in Rosembole. My family got wiped out during the attack and only my brother and I survived. He managed to take me to an auto-mail engineer to fit me with some new limbs. Six months later and out of rehab, my brother and I split up to go our separate ways, explore the world. I was stopping here in Dust Bowl to check out the ruins of Xerxes while I was out here before turning back to New Optain city." Edward mentally congratulated himself for making up such a decent story on the fly, considering he already had an alibi explaining the loss of his limbs inside the State Military.

"That's it?" Martel asked, a little disappointed. "Nothing else?"

"Nope. That's it. Pretty quick and boring, wasn't it?"

"Try disappointing." Martel deadpanned. "I'd thought you had something a little more interesting to tell me. Now what'll we do to kill time?"

Before Ed had the chance to speak, the cell door gave a shrill, metallic squeak from its age-rusted hinges as the lock slid back and opened up. The light from the torches lit in the corridor outside the room stung Edward's dark-attuned eyes, preventing him from getting a good look at the man that entered the room. Whoever he was, based on the size of shadow he made in the light, he was a giant.

"Alrigh', time fer yer evenin' entertainment, little ones." A heavily accented man slurred, drunk and deep and baritone. "Go ahead and scream if ya wan'. Jus' makes it all a' more fun." His head turned downward. "Get th' chairs an' bind 'em good n' tight. No sense in havin' anyone do no strugglin'. "

So there was a second man in the room. Edward hadn't noticed because he came in behind the big bastard and was hidden from the light as the door opened and closed. The guy was thin, but easily a head taller than himself with stringy hair and tattered cloak. It was impossible to see his face clearly with Ed's eyes struggling to adjust to the dim light in the room again after exposure to bright light.

"Let's get to know each other, aye? Th' name's Wallace." The big man said, jabbing his thumb at his wide, powerful chest. "An' I'll be ya two's interrogator for this evenin'. Get comfortable, 'cause if there's one t'ing I'm good at, it's dishin' out the hurt."

Ed said nothing, and neither did Martel. They were soldiers who fought on the battle field and had seen and done worse things than this pathetic brute could ever dream of doing. He just glared back at the man even as he and Martel were lifted off the ground and bound in chains in solid wood chairs.

"Oh! An' I gots a surprise for the runt 'ere." Wallace said suddenly, taking two things from a satchel hanging over one of his massive shoulders. Ed had to bite his lip to stop himself from yelling out in fury for being called a runt when he saw the items in Wallace's hand: His auto-mail limbs.

"These'r e some pretty fancy things fer a little good-fer-nothing shit like you sonny, but tell ya what. You get outta the chains and past me, they're all yours." Wallace let out a booming laugh and tossed them to the far end of the cell, clattering in the loose, rocky soil.

Then the big man advanced on Ed while cracking his knuckles and whistling a merry tune as he cocked his fist back. _'Better bite the pain for a while.'_ Ed thought, clenching his jaw for the inevitable impact of Wallace's fist. _'As soon as I'm out of these chains, this fucker's a dead man.'_

And Ed's vision swam as a giant fist slammed into his cheek.

* * *

Alphonse dropped another crate onto the ground, easily two hundred pounds heavy. Beside him were a few middle-aged men assisting him with the heavy loads to set around the wide avenue to use as barricades against future bandit attacks, which the denizens of Dust Bowl believed would happen again very soon from then. Bandit attacks were frequent around less-monitored and militarized zones across Amestris, especially around distant and small towns close to the country border, and routes along distant towns and villages where little to no military forces were stationed.

"Hey big guy" one man called behind Al, waving his arm. "Do that thing you did and make another wall here. This alley needs to be closed off."

"Coming!" Al yelled, running over to the man and knelt down, drawing a transmutation circle with a triangle inlet within the ring. Once he tapped on the alchemy array, a wall of solid, pale yellow stone arose from the ground, gaining height until it reached ten feet tall and a foot thick.

"Hotdamn!" the middle-aged man whooped, slapping Al's huge metal back appreciatively. "Don't know how the hell you did it, but that was amazing! Can you do that again and block all the alleyways between the buildings?"

"Alright. Just let me finish here." Al replied, turning back to the middle of the street to draw some more transmutation circles with his chalk. Once done with that task, Alphonse clapped his hands and set them above one of the transmutation circles, and a crackle of electricity shot between his hands to the circle, transferring the alchemical energy to all the rest of the alchemy arrays, taking the stone from the street itself that reshaped into a short, square barricade large enough for two men to fit behind shoulder to shoulder. A shallow divot surrounded the base of every stone shield where the earthen material shifted into the barricades. Spectators around the street applauded his skills, thinking them to be magic tricks, while the men assisting in the defensive fortifications gave the Armored Alchemist hurrah's for his work.

It was a shame he couldn't clap his hands and transmute like Edward, Al lamented, and felt another pang of both anger and regret. Anger at himself and the bandits that took him away, and regretful because he couldn't do anything to help his own brother. He just hoped Edward would make it out safely out of whatever situation he was in at that moment. True, being an Alchemist searching for clues to find the Philosopher's Stone had its risks, and they'd been in tough spots in the past, yet most times they were together and never far from each other. Together they were almost invincible.

Divided, Al felt helpless and, despite his own insecurities, prayed Ed would keep strong. Growing up together left Al wanting both he and his brother to help one another and support the other whenever things looked their bleakest and hopeless. Edward had been the confident one between them, always thinking, planning, staying one step ahead of whoever fought against them.

Al suddenly turned around as a noisy clatter from the bar at the end of the street, like a table and some chairs had been turned over, followed by an angry drunken man's cursing mouth. Al jogged over near the patio and stopped as Rose strolled out still wearing her darker clothes. Not far behind, a balding, red-bearded middle-aged man around her height with thick-muscled arms and round belly came out of the tavern as well, red-faced with rage.

"Don't touch me you drunk pervert! I don't want nor need your damn money, and I'm not a whore! Go to a damn brothel!" Rose yelled back at the man, standing in the middle of the street with the man in question not an arm's reach close. Unbeknownst to them, her raised voice had attracted the attention of everyone outside within eye and earshot.

"Little bitch!" the drunk man snarled, clenching his fist tightly until the muscles in his arms flexed and swelled with veins. "Won't take my money?! Money's not good enough for ya?" he said as he grabbed Rose's arm with bruising strength.

"Let go of me!" Rose snapped, struggling to pull her arm free.

"I already paid ya, so you'll give me what I want, ya little cock-tease!" The man yelled, wrestling at her arms and gripping her wrists.

Al had seen enough; the man was too far out of his wits drunk, and he might actually hurt Rose if he didn't do anything to help her. "That's enough!" He yelled, jogging up beside the drunk man. "Let her go or else!"

"Or what, tin-face?!" the man hollered, turning his head to face Alphonse. "Mind yer own damn business and find yer own damn whore! I'm busy here-"

The man's blathering was interrupted as, to Al's surprise, Rose took that opportunity to drive her knee into the man's groin, causing him to release his hold on her arms. Barely pausing as he reached for his groin, Rose brought the heel of her palm and struck the man's nose in an upward motion, breaking the fragile cartilage and finishing him off with a hard punch in the man's throat, dropping flat on his face as he gagged and struggled to breathe. Al was amazed how quickly Rose grasped Edward's earlier lessons and applied them so effectively, especially seeing as she didn't strike to the Armored Alchemist as anyone whom had done much fighting in her life.

Not concerned about the man's condition, Rose stormed off to their hotel room past Alphonse.

After checking to make sure the man was still breathing --he was, but wasn't going to wake up anytime soon-- Al followed Rose back to their hotel room where he found her sitting on the bed, her back facing the doorway. He walked up beside and rested his hand on her shoulder, kneeling down to look her in the eye. Her face was turned away.

"Rose? Are you okay?" Al asked tentatively.

"No, I'm not, Al." Rose said tightly, rubbing at her eyes to wipe away the stray tears. "I mean, here we are helping these people however we can, and some drunk bastard decided to feel me up when I'm gathering alcohol. And we're still nowhere near finding Edward and helping him." Rose let out a breath of air, slumping down with her head in her hands. "I'm sorry. I just can't help but feel useless to you both. I just wish I could help Ed right now. I owe you both so much."

Al suddenly started feeling guilty, not because he thought he might've -unintentionally- upset Rose, but how he didn't have any idea how to help her. "Um, Rose? Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Rose said softly.

"...Do you have...feelings for Ed?"

Rose turned her head to Alphonse so quickly the Armored Alchemist worried she'd pull a muscle. Her cheeks were slightly red and her eyes were wide, as though shocked and embarrassed. "W-what?! What do you mean...feelings? Like I like him or something?" She asked incredulously, looking away once more.

Al suddenly started waving his arms about, panicking from the misunderstanding. "W-wait, that came out wrong!" He stammered, "What I mean is...my brother...he's not someone who trusts people easily, especially after everything we've done and the stops along our pursuit to get our bodies back. We've come across and met alot of bad people, but that's never stopped Ed from trying to believe there are good folks out there that need help."

"What are you getting at?" Rose asked, still slightly flustered from Al's earlier slip.

"Edward...I know he and I've caused you trouble, forcing you and everyone back in Liore to leave your homes and lives behind, and maybe people won't think kindly of him for everything we've done, but...I want you to trust Ed. I need you to believe that he will come through, and that he'll protect you. I just want to know if you'll trust him."

"But I do trust Ed!" Rose said quickly, almost too quickly for her liking. "I...I do trust him. I trust you both because...you and Ed are risking everything to help me. You've both done so much for me already, I can't help but feel like I just a burden to you." She slumped her head down near her chest, depressed. "Here I am, just a useless tag-along who can't do any alchemy or fighting to protect myself, and we're just sitting here while Edward could be anywhere, dead or dying for all we know."

"We've been over this, Rose." Al sighed tiredly, "There's nothing we can do but wait for Ed to come back on his own. Besides, he's too stubborn to get killed. I'm sure we'll see him again."

They lapsed into silence once more, unsure what else to say, or whether they even wanted to continue the topic of Ed's absence. Al suddenly wished he had the initial drive like Ed to at least start a conversation without unintentionally bringing awkward moments.

"I'm useless, aren't I?" Rose said suddenly. Alphonse jumped, baffled that the young woman would belittle herself out of the blue. Before he could raise any protests, Rose resumed. "I can't even do alchemy, I can barely understand it, and the rest of the town's getting ready for an attack from bandits which'll come at any time and I'm sitting here doing nothing."

Al rested his hand on her shoulder. He was reminded once more just how small she appeared, compared to his size. "Everything takes time, Rose. Ed never expected you to learn everything at once, and neither do I. I mean, you handled that drunk man pretty good. Considering how quickly Ed's been teaching you, you've made some progress at least."

His praise fell on deaf ears. Rose just sat there, unresponsive. Al gave her shoulder a half-hearted pat with his massive hand, reminded once more just how small she seemed to him, and left the hotel room to help the towns people with the defensive fortifications.

_'Wherever you are big brother, I hope you'll come back soon. I don't know what to do right now.'_

* * *

Edward's face was swollen with bruises, stinging from he repeated blows endured courtesy of Wallace, his interrogator, whom was cocking back his arm to give another sample of punishment. The man's fist hit Ed's stomach like a sledge hammer, making his vision swim in a torrent of blinding pain. Had he not already emptied the contents of his stomach ten minutes ago, he would've vomited from the violent impact in his midsection.

"Had enough yet, punk? Ready for another?" Wallace crooned in sick joy, wiping the blood from his knuckles. "Damn shame fer ya t'quit on me, 'cause I can go all day long."

_'I just hope he stops panting in my face'_, Edward thought, _'His breath smells worse than shit.'_

"An' what about you, missy?" Wallace said as he turned toward Martel, not four feet away from Ed's right. She hadn't yet been harmed, but Ed wasn't entertaining high hopes that would last very long and remain unmolested.

Wallace took Martel's chin in his hand harshly and forced her he face upward just the slightest bit, squeezing her cheeks. "Tell me little chickity. How do ya like it? Hard 'n fast, or slow 'n deep?" He asked nastily, grinning a dark, perverse leer.

"Preferably away from your face." Martel retorted, curling her nose at Wallace like he was dog excrement. "When was the last time you brushed your teeth anyway? Before or after your whore mother considered putting poison in your milk?"

Wallace's grin stretched even wider, revealing his rotten, yellow teeth aready decaying. "Cheeky little bitch, aren't ya? I think I'll do you raw and hard." He then leaned down next to her ear, but didn't bother lowering his voice. "And when I'm through with ya, you'll be too sore to walk. How you like that, little bitch?"

"Figures." Edward scoffed, in spite of the numbing pain flaring around his face and stomach. His interruption attracted the interrogator's attention, as well as Martel's, just as he planned. "Shit-stained ugly bastard like you can't get a woman if he paid her, so you take any woman bound and restrained and rape them." He spat a glob of bloody phlegm right on Wallace's right cheek. "How very typical of sewer trash. Nothing more than disgusting pieces of shit too good to flush down the john."

Wallace's face flushed crimson with rage. He broke away from Martel and wiped away the red spit on his cheek before backhanding Ed in the face with the same hand he wiped his cheek with. Edward's head whipped sideways from the impact, hanging limp against his chest and almost ready to pass out from the trauma. His vision went black and vertigo threatened to send him back into oblivion before he felt a meaty hand yank on his shirt collar.

"Cocky little shit, ain't ya?" Wallace whispered venomously, releasing his shirt and grabbing a fistful of Edward's hair and leaning in close. "Any las' words 'afore I break yer jaw?"

Ed mumbled something under his breath, too low for the thug to hear, which prompted Wallace to lean down closer. "What'd ja say, shit stain? Couln' catch that."

"Burn in Hell, bastard."

A flash of blinding blue light and crackling static erupted behind Edward, stinging Wallace's eyes and making the big man wince. Ed's arm whipped around from behind him, unrestrained and his chain bonds gone, and brought the knife in his hand down, stabbing the blade clean through the side of Wallace's throat, severing the major arteries and wind pipe, burying the blade up to the hilt.

Wallace thrashed, eyes wide in shock and panic as he scrambled away from Edward, grabbing th knife handle and reflexively yanking it out, causing a fountain of scarlet to pour from the large tear in his throat. His mouth yawned open, trying to scream, yet only a weak, wet gurgle bubbled out. His giant form swayed as his knees finally gave out and he fell face-first into the loose dirt stained with his own blood.

Too exhausted from fatigue and his many injuries to feel much shock from actually killing a man, Edward leaned down in his chair and brought his left hand near the chain binding his leg, scratching something into one of the chain sigil's metallic surface. Touching it once more, another burst of alchemical energy flashed the room in blinding brilliance before the chain disappeared, and another knife plopped into the soil, his leg free. Having to resort to belly crawling due to his injuries and missing prosthetics, Ed took a moment to reach his auto-mail limbs. He first grasped his metal arm and set the connecting peg inside the insertion port at his shoulder, while taking a mouthful of his shirt between his jaws. Reconnecting the nerves with his prosthetics always hurt, no matter how often he'd endured them, but even those instances were under controlled environments with his mechanics on hand to help with the process. In this case, without said mechanics around to help, he'd have to do it the hard way, and the pain would many times worse.

Which was why took his own shirt to use as a gag bit, muffling his screams of pain as he jammed the auto-mail arm straight into his shoulder port, expression of cringing agony as the nerves in his whole body flared in sharp pain that made even Martel wince in sympathy. He almost fell unconscious again, but held on by sheer force of will. He did the same with his metal leg, slipping the connection peg inside the entry port at his left thigh, then jamming it inside until it locked together, bringing another -albeit much less painful- cry from his raw, dry throat.

Once he managed to recover enough strength, Ed stood up on unsteady legs and went over to Martel, clapping his hands and touching the chains binding her feet, causing them to glow a bright blue-white before they shattered apart. He went behind the woman and did the same to the chains holding her the chair's backrest, and she was free.

"How did you do that?" Martel asked, eyes open in wonder. "You didnt' tell me you were an Alchemist."

Ed reached into his rear pocket and pulled out a small item, flipping it into the air with his thumb before catching it again, opening his palm and revealing a threaded bolt. "I used this to etch an alchemy circle into one of the chain links behind my back and turn it into a knife. I got started while you and I were exchanging stories, but it took a while since I was also being harassed and hit by-" he lightly kicked at the dead Wallace's head, "-this guy here. That, and I needed to wait for the right moment when to attack. I only had once chance to hit him when he didn't expect it."

"You still haven't told me about-"

"Does it matter?" Edward interjected, cutting off Martel's line of questioning. "I couldn't afford to have anyone listen in and be aware, otherwise they'd take even more precautions when holding us prisoner." The Fullmetal Alchemist suddenly groaned as the pain returned ten-fold from his belly, flaring with a hot, throbbing sensation, like he'd swallowed smelted coals, and was getting worse.

Martel noticed his signs of pain. "Are you okay? Look, we need to get outta here-"

"You go. I'm staying here." Ed interrupted.

Martel looked at Edward like he was crazy. "Vincent, I don't know if it's the pounding you took earlier or your adrenalin talking, but you're in no shape fight anyone, much less take on a whole swarm of these bandits; Alchemy or no."

"I don't have a choice. If I don't stop these bastards, they'll just attack the town again and start killing people. I've got friends waiting for me back there and I'm not gonna let them down." When Martel was about to protest further, Edward grasped her shoulders tightly in his flesh and steel hands, eyes hard and offering no compromise. "Don't argue. Don't tell me to let it be, or run away, or say you'll help me. This is my fight, and I intend to finish it." This his expression softened. "You've endured enough. Just let me handle this."

"....Alright." Martel said softly. "Just don't go dying on me on your suicide mission."

Ed grinned through his split lips. "No promises, but I'll do my best. You just stay alive."

Martel nodded, moved to turn but stopped, faced Ed again, then grabbed his shirt collar in both hands and yanked him against her.

Too stunned to move, Ed's mind blanked out. The pain of his injuries were only secondary to his attention then; he no longer smelt the copperish tang of blood and body oder inside the confined, humid room. All he was aware of were Martel's lips on his and her tongue stroking the inside of his mouth like she was savoring a sweet wine. Ed noticed how much her mouth tasted like warm, fresh water.

Then it was over, and Martel separated from Ed, a string of saliva drooped between their puckered lips, only adding to Ed's embarrassment. He felt his cheeks flush hot and red, and was stunned stiff from the shock of his first kiss, a rather deep one at that. The chimera wiped her lips with her fingers, wearing the most sultry, satisfied expressions Edward had ever seen on a woman.

"That was an adult kiss. The next time we meet, I'll give you the full course."

Full course? Did she mean...?

"Time to go." Martel said sadly, "Take care, Vincent."

The chimera woman turned around, opened the iron door, and looked back at Ed with a final wave goodbye before disappearing down the hall, her footsteps fading in the distance. He hoped she would escape unharmed.

Closing his eyes, Edward took a moment to gather himself, steel his nerves. His injuries were still throbbing, but the pain had dulled into, yet also gave him focus. It helped him formulate a plan of attack.

Taking stock of himself, Ed knew already his injuries would hinder him too much, and by the sheer number of bandits stationed in this...underground system, and above ground, he would be quickly overwhelmed if he didn't bring his full strength to bare and fought to kill.

Ed had to take a hard gulp to keep down the bile from his throat. He hated the thought of taking people's lives, no matter what circumstances may demand at certain times.

In spite of that, Wallace's dead body mocked his sentiments, just proving the redundancy of his morality regarding taking lives. He just crossed that one line he swore he would never step over, even after causing Al's body and his own limbs to be taken as a result of his forbidden experiment. He didn't want to kill anyone.

But he just did. He took the man's life not out of any sick or twisted desire, but out of necessity. He couldn't afford to be careful when he'd been stripped of his auto-mail limbs, and knocking him out wasn't even a possibility in his bound and injured state. If he hadn't killed him, he and Martel would only have end up dead regardless.

Ed felt his hands shiver, his legs tremble slightly. The longer he stared at Wallace's body, the more it seemed the dread seeped into him. He tore his eyes away and turned around, forcing a deep breath into his lungs. If he had to kill again, and again, and again to see to th safety of his brother, of Rose, and the inhabitants of Dust Bowl, so be it.

He'd rather feel guilty over his actions later than do nothing at all and waste his time over the ramifications while people were dying.

It still didn't mean he had to like it.

"No turning back now." Ed whispered to himself, staring at his shaking hands. "Looks like I'm turning in an early sign-up sheet for human weapon practice."

Striding out into the hallway, Edward took a right turn-

--And came face to face to two bandits, both armed with shot guns draped over their shoulders and, if their expressions were any indication, they recognized him. Both men moved to take their fire-arms and aimed at the Fullmetal Alchemist.

Their fingers hadn't touched the triggers to their guns when earthen spikes jutted out in a span of an instant, piercing through their flanks and lifting them off the ground, pinning their bodies to wall on their right. Blood exploded out their mouths and the gaping holes in their sides, spilling onto the ground and soaking into the loose dirt. They held their horrified expressions even as their hearts stopped beating, and Edward shattered stone spikes by deconstruction, literally turning them into dust. The bandit's lifeless bodies fell over, thumping onto the ground.

Ed suppressed his urge to shudder, though couldn't help but cringe despite his earlier incentive to bear through it.

An alarm sounded, a blaring whistle that sirened from somewhere down the passageway Edward was facing, echoing harshly. That must've been the signal for their raid attack.

"Time to go."

* * *

Alphonse dropped another sand bag atop the stack he'd set up against one of several ramparts he transmuted. Any and all men able to arm themselves would station at these points, some in the streets, others in the alleyways between the buildings. If -When, Al corrected himself- the bandits came back for another attack, at least they'd be ready for them. Alphonse had never actually dealt with large groups of hostiles before, and neither had Edward. Helping an entire town defend itself against armed marauders would be a first for him.

The loud retort of distant gunfire drew Al's attention, making the Armored Alchemist stand up and pan his sights to the barren planes at the town's east. The gallop of horse hooves rumbled in the air like a death march.

"Here they come!", Al yelled, running back to the barricades.

Burly men and protective husbands took Al's shout as their signal, rushing outside while some stayed indoors to act as snipers. There was no question the women, children and elderly were to stay indoors and away from the windows in the event of any crossfire.

Gun shots rang out in a frenzied staccato of activity through the air, though Alphonse couldn't tell who fired first. Bandits on horse-back galloped through the street, guns blazing sharp rapid retorts of gunfire on anyone in sight, some already gunned down by the marksmen taking cover on the rooftops. One stray bandit, a large man with a thick black mustache and tanned skin opened fire on Al with an automatic rifle from horse-back, emptying his ammo clip but with little success; every bullet that hit Al's metal body ricocheted off him, some even hitting the bandit and his horse, which toppled over from the shock of the rebounding bullets and pinning its rider beneath its weight.

Al scribbled into the baked ground with his chalk, drawing an alchemy circle and touched his palm against it. Three bandits on foot shoulder to shoulder were suddenly boxed in by earthen slabs that slid out of the ground and locked them inside.

Another bandit, this one a thinner man carrying two pistols and long dirty blond hair loose over his shoulders, turned his sights on Al after seeing what he did to his comrades and opened fire, pelting the Armored Alchemist with bullets at his eyes and chest. The projectiles bounced off Al's body harmlessly, and Al took that chance to close the distance and hit the man over his head with his large fist. The bandit crumpled to the ground in a boneless heep.

A horse barreled into Al from his side, knocking him flat onto the ground, its saddle empty; most likely its former rider shot and dead. The equine animal reared up on its hind legs and started bashing on Al's chest with hard, quick kicks that dented the thick metal. Al had to kick the horse's belly from under to get the out-of-control mount off him, and rolled back onto his hands and knees before pushing himself up, the horse already long gone and making a fast retreat out of Dust Bowl.

A bald, middle-aged man with a full beard rushed at Al from behind, swinging a sledge hammer for the Armored Alchemist's head. Alphonse caught the hammer bar easily, yanking it out of the man's grasp and drove his knee into the off-balance man's gut, dropping him in the dirt.

With so much commotion spinning around him, Alphonse chose to fight without alchemy for the time being, as it was too time consuming. Kicking and punching would have to do until the chaos died down, at least a little.

A staccato of machine-gun fire hit Al like a hornet sting, snapping him back to his surroundings as a small man in loose clothes and scarred chin peppered Al's armor body with a barrage of bullets. A startled cry and wailing sob broke through the air as some of the ricocheting bullets shattered windows and struck the house's wooden walls. If this went on, a stray bullet may likely rebound and kill someone. The Armored Alchemist kicked off the ground in a great leap and smashed his fist into the bandit's face, punching out many teeth in a spray of bloody spittle as the man dropped backward, out like a light.

Al heard the clicking pump action of a shotgun behind him, followed swiftly by the loud retort of gunfire, then silence, broken by the sound of a dull thump. He turned around, confused as to why he didn't "feel" any vibrations from bullets hit his body, expecting to see one of the gunmen behind him who shot the bandit down.

The sight that met him was Rose holding a pistol in her trembling hands, eyes wide and breathing erratically as her knees shook from the shock of the gun's noise and recoil. The body of a scruffy-bearded bandit lying face-down in the dirt with a shotgun under him confirmed her reaction was largely due to killing the man. Despite his gratitude for her help, Al also felt slightly horror-stricken that she actually killed someone.

"Rose? Are you okay?", Alphonse asked worriedly, raising his hands in hopes of keeping the shaking girl calm so she didn't accidentally pull the trigger again since the pistol was now pointed downwards around her feet, both hands still gripping handle tightly.

Rose's eyes were staring straight ahead, not directly looking at Al. Her voice shook as terribly as her legs and shoulders. "I...I didn't mean to...I mean I didn't want--he was going to shoot you and I just--I picked up the first thing I could reach and...I didn't...God, what've I done?! I killed him!!"

In spite of the chaos raging around them inside the town, Al knelt and took Rose by her shoulders, keeping her gaze locked with his. "Listen to me Rose. This is a fight you shouldn't be in right now. You need to find shelter or else-"

"Found me a woman!", a gruff voice yelled behind Al, startling him and drawing him around to come face to face with a small man pointing a revolver pistol at the pair, grinning a wide, psychotic smile and revealing rotten yellow teeth. "You're comin' with me, bitch! One side tin face, or I'll-"

The bandit's monologue was cut short as, far to the small rogue's right, one of the town defenders took that opportunity to open fire, and the bandit's head was gone in a messy splatter of gore. Thankfully, Al shielded Rose from the sight since he was blocking her from any gunfire.

In the chaos, several large men made a loose circle around Al and Rose, all brandishing either a hammer, sickle, club, or gun. Like the rest of their group, the rogue's clothing was rag-tag, dirty, and almost in scraps. Al wouldn't have been surprised if they hadn't bathed in weeks, if Rose's gagging reaction to them was any indication to their hygiene.

One of them stepped up, an obese man of medium height easily carrying a large sledgehammer over his shoulder. "Alright tinhead! Hand over the girl and we won't kill ya. You got 'til the count of three before me and me buddies just kill ya and take 'er anyway. ONE!"

Al didn't move, keeping his arms around Rose to shield her from any stray bullets.

"TWO!"

Rose cringed, expecting to hear the deafening sound of gunfire around her.

"THREE-"

The ground suddenly shifted beneath Al and Rose's feet, forming a two-foot deep depression nearly eight feet across as a wall of solid rock rose up from around them, blocking them from the bandit's line of fire only an instant before the rogues pulled their triggers. Startled, but still alert, Al inspected the the wall protecting him and Rose. A crackle of alchemical static rippled from the stone's surface as the sounds of combat and shouts raged on the other side of the wall.

Rose looked around at the wall herself, confused. "Did you do that, Al?"

The youngest Elric brother shook his head. He'd been too preoccupied keeping his arms around Rose to draw any alchemy circles.

So that left only one other possibility.

"Don't worry Rose." Alphonse said confidently. "This fight will be over in no time."

"But what's happening?", Rose asked as the Armored Alchemist took out a chalk stick and began drawing alchemic arrays on the wall.

"You don't have to worry anymore, Rose. He's back right now, and he'll stop these bandits like he's always done. This wall here's his handiwork."

"Who are you talking about?"

Finished with his alchemy circle, Al turned his head to Rose. "Edward's back. He fighting right now. And we've got to help him."

Slapping his hand onto the drawn alchemy array, the wall around them crumbled into brittle chunks of rock.

* * *

"DIE YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!"

Having transmuted his automail arm with a double-edged blade, Edward ducked the brigand's sledge hammer swing and slashed his arm outward in a crosscut, opening the man's belly and sliding around his back as his dying opponent fell flat into the soil. The bandit thrashed about in agony as his organs and blood spilled out of the large gash in his belly for only a few seconds before he lay still. "That's for calling me little."

Ed hissed from the pain flaring hot and sharp from his ribs, and his breathing was getting labored from all the strenuous combat. His limbs started feeling leaden, heavy, and the pain began to compound from all his earlier injuries, threatening to double him over. His limbs, his insides, ached as if his blood turned to acid in his veins. The agony almost sent him to his knees.

Almost.

_'Not yet.'_ Edward said to himself. _'You can't afford to lay down and rest. Not until these guys are taken care of. Not until every one of them is dead or gone.'_

Ed managed to push himself up to his full height, bearing the pain of his screaming nerves. _'That's right. This pain is nothing. I've suffered worse.'_ Absently, he touched at his prosthetic arm. _'Much worse.'_

A few ragged-looking gunmen stopped when they spotted him beside the body of one of their own. Grinning nastily, they shouldered their guns and slipped their knives free from their belts, thinking to kill him easy and save their ammunition. They were three meters away from their target when Edward clapped his hands and dropped back down to his knees, hitting his palms on the soil and causing a ripple of blue light and alchemical static to expand outward from Ed's position, nearly thirty feet in diameter. All three bandits stopped in their tracks, startled and bewildered from the display when they felt a tremor shake the ground from under their feet. The bandit on their right scratched his prickly chin.

"Th' hell is that?"

Then the ground around them erupted in a field of piercing stone spikes, spearing through their soft bodies like fetid meat and gouging great holes and cavities in their flesh as they were impaled on all sides. They barely so much as yelped before their hearts stopped beating.

The sound of a shotgun pumping alerted Ed of someone behind him, and spun around in a flourish, lashing out with his automail arm leading in a backhand crosscut that sliced clean-through the barrel shaft of the shotgun just millimeters away from the gunman's hand before the sneaky bandit managed to pull the trigger. Edward followed through the maneuver with a hard low kick from his steel leg, hitting the bandit's right shin and snapping it in two from the impact. The man fell over and dropped his shotgun, grabbing at his broken leg and wailing in shock and agony. Ed finished him with a downward stab into his neck, nearly cutting his head clean off his shoulders before withdrawing his transmuted metal arm as the man bled out.

Once he'd confirmed the area around him was clear of any more conflict, Ed started running fast into one of the alleyways, slipping behind the buildings to avoid any stray bullets. Once he was hidden from view from the main thoroughfare, Edward caught sight of five scraggly men armed with hammers, guns and clubs almost twenty yards away, no doubt some of the bandits, whom were sneaking up behind two figures nestled between two wooden shacks a little further up, one of them as big as a large man protecting a much smaller person. Ed's eyes widened in dread upon recognizing them.

Al and Rose.

The men surrounding them started to raise their guns as their "leader" started counting to three for the order to fire. Edward ran, ran faster than he thought possible for his auto-mail limbs' weight, clapped his hands, and slapped the earth, turning the stone around Al and Rose into a protective stone barrier to shield them from any gun shots. The bandits jumped back, startled and perplexed by the display as they panned left and right with their weapons ready.

"Gah! Magic?!"

"Ya idiot! No magic; just alchemy! Where's the bastard hiding-"

With Al and Rose safe for the time being, Ed leaped out of his hiding spot behind the house and drove his auto-mail blade into the back of the nearest bandit, pivoted around and threw the man into another of the rogues, pinning him down with the dead weight of his comrade. Two down for the count, Edward crouched and transmuted the ground again, turning the area into a field of sharp spikes that ripped the last four or five bandits to shreds, trailing entirely around the stone barricade he transmuted around Al and Rose. The bodies fell limp down to the bloody ground with wet smacks, weapons bouncing out of slackened hands. Ed made a quick scan around the area. No one dangerous for twenty yards; the main fight was taking place further up the in the main plaza.

Ed knew he was breathless, felt a dull throb that thrummed inside his chest, knew his heart was beating a tempo known to only those that threw themselves into the chaotic river of combat, where one leaves behind his hopes for survival and life, gives up the notion of tomorrow and yesterday, and knew only the present. At any moment, for all he could guess, he would die in either the next second by a bullet, or the next hour from blood loss, or even next day or week from infection from his many wounds. He knew his leaden limbs were already past the point of his highest limits, fighting endlessly for what seemed like an hour that bled into timelessness. He knew his chances for escaping this killing spiral were nigh to nothing.

Edward Elric _knew_ that.

Knew, but didn't _care_.

With little distractions or morale hindrances, he felt free of his conscience, and smiled as he ran headlong into the fray.

Barely twenty men were left to fight. He must've killed fifteen men, twenty eight if he included the bandits that trailed behind the forerunners on his run back to Dust Bowl. The last few gave their all, taking refuge behind the barricades, which showed signs of alchemical transmutation: Al's handiwork. The rogues opened fire on anything and everything that moved, including the silhouettes in the house windows where men fired from behind their flimsy fortresses. Most of the town defenders had taken shelter early in the attack.

A sharp prick stabbed into Edward's back, just below the ribs. He yelped, more surprised than actually in pain since it hadn't gotten too deep, and stopped in his run, turning back around to face his attacker as he withdrew the small throwing knife from his back. He was thankful for his red sleeveless shirt, which lessened the penetration.

A small man, thin with bleached white hair cut into a rough mo-hawk stood under the overhang roof of the saloon patio, twirling knives between his dexterous hands as he stood amidst the bodies of men and women alike surrounding him, all of which had knives buried into their cooling flesh. He had a few years on Ed, maybe five or six, give or take, and wore pale brown leathers and shoes more adapted for desert terrain, like slippers. His face was gaunt, hollow cheeks and deep-set eye sockets as though starved, but his stance showed he wasn't suffering from any weakness or food deprivation.

No, that wasn't right. He _was _hungry, but not for food. For a fight. For a kill. His wolfish grin only highlighted how animalistic he truly was.

Deep in the back of his mind, Edward wondered what drove a man to become like him. Men who took what they wanted simply because they could. Men who killed with little care for the consequences of their actions. Men who only lived in the now, never looking back to learn from their past, never looking forward to any future, just killing for the fun of it.

The sounds of the chaos in the background faded away, as though from a distant dream, or fog exposed to sunlight. In that moment, Ed saw a reflection of himself in the rogue's eyes, of how deep he could sink into the pit of sadism and insanity.

Would he become like that? Had he already?

The elder Elric stared down at his hands; dirty, calloused, scarred, and bloodied. The longer he stared, the same thought echoed in the back of his mind, over and over again:

_'You can't afford to lose yourself here. Al needs you to bring back his body._

_You've traded your arm, your leg, and your brother's body._

_Only after that..._'

Edward's fists clenched. _'No compromise. No middle path. Kill who I have to, but don't let it consume you. Yesterday is gone; tomorrow is beyond me. But for now...I'll make due on my own.'_

"What's your name, rat piss?" Edward asked with a grin.

His maniacal grin never wavered. "John. You?"

"Edward Elric. Thanks for throwing that knife just now."

John snorted. "Why?"

"'Cause thanks to you, you stopped me from becoming something like you. A senseless bastard that doesn't give a shit about who he kills or why. Unlike _you_, I _know_ who I kill." Edward clapped his hands, and slapped the soil once more, transmuting a large Bowie knife into his free left hand. "And now, I'm gonna see you pay for every soul you killed."

John answered with a flick of his wrist, snapping out a knife that sailed through the air and nicked Ed in the cheek, drawing blood. Had he not moved his head to the side, that knife would've taken him in the eye. A perfect throw, and John's posture never changed, at over twenty feet. This bastard was damn good with throwing.

Steel clashed, giving birth to a shower of sparks as John's knives struck Edward's steel arm, using it as a shield against the knife-happy bandit's barrage. Ed had to roll sideways twice -once to his left, again to his right- to evade John's seeming endless supply of knives and daggers. It never occurred to him to simply transmute a barricade to shield himself, or send spikes to impale him through; just dodging and evading. He wasn't attacking.

Because he was waiting. He wanted to get up close and personal with the knife-thrower and finish him off with his bare hands. He'd have it no other way.

After ducking beneath the flight path of three more thrown knives, Edward stopped ducking and rolling to evade them, his strength draining with the sweat trickling from his pores.

Just a step away from the saloon porch. Ed clapped his hands and slapped his auto-mail hand onto the wooden planks, discharged a crackle of alchemic energy, and the wood planks transformed into a large crossbow holding five arrows along the curve of the bow, mounted atop a pivoting base. He wasted no time to pull the trigger on the surprised John, letting all five bolts fly at once.

John's reflexes were quicker. Diving aside out into the open street, the knife-happy bandit rolled into a controlled tumble and came to a stop over ten feet away from his previous standing point. An attempt to stand was cut short as a stab of pain in John's belly drew his attention where one of the crossbow bolts were embedded into his flank, just above his hip. He hastily broke off the arrow's length, just below the tip so he wouldn't bleed out, and raised his sights back to the blond alchemist.

Edward was just three steps away, charging with the intent to kill.

Panicking, John threw one of his last remaining knives toward Ed, blade glancing off his metal shoulder, before he had to unsheathe his own fighting knives.

Ed and John's respective weapons singed a high-tuned screech on impact, jarring their bones from the sharp impact that sent tremors down through their arms. Muscles shook, straining with fatigue and desperation. Expressions stayed hard, murderous, and neither gave ground. Eyes of burning gold met iron gray.

Metal scraped, knife edges chipping into flecks of tiny shards that were swept away into the wind. Edward's Bowie knife sliced through the air, whistling as it just grazed John's right shoulder in a horizontal cut, drawing a string of scarlet and wetting his blade first. John retaliated, reflexively lashing out with his own knife that drew a deep cut into Ed's flesh-and-blood forearm, but earned a hard knee strike in his midsection, almost cracking his ribs from the impact, and stumbled back more than five steps, coming to a halt, exhausted.

John panted, thin chest expanding with each intake. "Stubborn little bastard, aren't you?"

Edward was in similar shape, heaving with labored breaths and sweat stinging his eyes. "Did you just call me little?", he panted, a grin tugging at his bruised lips. "Big talk for a guy taller than me by an inch or two, right scumbag?"

The Fullmetal Alchemist might've added more, except his exhaustion was getting worse. He had to end this fight now. A final burst of strength and speed, he was running headlong toward his recovering opponent. John answered with a raise of his arm, aiming to throw another knife toward him, but was stopped short when Edward's Bowie knife flew and hit its mark on the mo-hawk's bicep, spoiling his throw completely.

Three paces away.

Something pricked at Ed's throat, a sting like a hornet jabbed its barb into his skin, but ignored the slight bit of pain -his body was reaching the human limit of endurance anyway- raised his automail arm for the killing stroke, and slashed in a crosscut, slicing open John's throat, nearly decapitating him. The bandit's face was dumbstruck-surprised, blood gushing out of the large slit in his throat, hands grasping stupidly at his severed windpipe. He collapsed to his knees, struggling to breathe, before he fell to his side. Edward knew the bastard wasn't getting back up.

Panting, breathless from his fight, Edward stared down at the body with mixed feelings, none of them including regret or remorse. The sounds of battle came back to him, and only then did his awareness of the present return.

Something wet was soaking his red shirt, and the smell of copper and iron wafted into his nostrils. Hands shaking, Edward touched his throat with his left hand, and felt the warm wetness of his blood pump out of the hollow at his throat. He hadn't even noticed until then that his breathing was wet and gurgling; the blood was trickling into his lungs. If he didn't bleed to death first, he'd drown in his own blood. He had less than a minute before he dropped dead and followed John in the afterlife.

The difference being, John wasn't an alchemist.

Clapping his hands, Edward brought his steel hand up, stopping just centimeters away from his throat, hesitant. What if he screwed up? What if he did worse than what was already done?

No time to question. Only one course to take.

"Fuck it."

Touching his bleeding wound, Edward concentrated on the amount of alchemical energy he'd discharge, gathered the power in his artificial arm, and used his alchemy to literally sear his wound shut in a flash of crackling static and light, drawing a ragged gasp of pain from his mangled throat and dropping him to the ground, almost choking on the smoke produced when his flesh was burned.

The flare of agony and heat reached across his entire face, leaving him blind and oblivious to everything around him. Hand trembling, Ed touched at his wound with his flesh arm, felt a ragged burn scar at the hollow of his throat, yet no blood came out. He forced in a deep breath, coughing loudly as he inhaled loose dirt and dust, and spat out a glob of dirty, bloody phlegm. A few quick short breaths more, heard nor felt anything wet in his throat, and sighed in relief.

Still, he couldn't just sit and rest. He still had to finish what he started.

Finish the fight.

Struggling to push himself up, Edward thought desperately, _'Get up, dammit. On your feet, and finish these bastards off before they escape and just come back again later. Come on, on your damn feet!'_

Despite his efforts and willpower, his limbs could carry his weight no more. Every muscle in his arms and legs felt as if they were hammered, boneless, and torn from his body as jolts and spikes of agony traced along his pain sensors. Only his automail arm managed to lift his body off the soil, allowing him to crane his neck to see where the bandit's last stand was taking place further up the town thoroughfare, using Al's stone barricades and the bodies of their comrades and townspeople alike as shields against the hail of bullets coming at them from every direction. There were little more than a dozen gathered together in a huddled spot, and didn't seem eager to move from their position as they returned fire.

Ed heard the familiar thump of hollow footsteps before a shadow loomed over him, obscuring the light of the sun and drawing his sights to the towering figure above him.

"Edward? Are you alirght?", Al asked, kneeling down and hovering his hands above Ed's head and back.

The elder Elric brother felt his bruised lips turn into a smile, relieved for his brother's safety and his simple presence beside him. "I'll live." Ed rasped, gaining enough strength to push himself off the soil. "Help me up, Al. We're finishing this fight right now."

"But Brother, you need to see a doctor right now-"

"Help me first, before I lose consciousness from all my injuries. I don't have much time."

Torn between his desire and brotherly duty to ignore his brother's stubborness and get him help, and to do as Ed said to end this fight, Al hesitated, looking back to where the last of the bandits were still laying down gunfire behind his very own transmuted barricades before panning his sights back to his expectant brother. Barely a few seconds into his indecision, Ed had already gotten to his feet, ignoring Alphonse's pleas for him to stay down and not aggrivate his injuries.

"Alright", Al conceded, supporting Edward by his chest. "Just tell me what you want to do."

"...gonna transmute a well and send up all the water from the last storm in a geyser. Once I do that, box them all inside a stone dome, and leave an opening."

Al did as he was told, drawing a large alchemy circle in front of him as Ed clapped his hands and pressed his palms onto th eground, sending a trail of alchemic static energy streeking toward the gathered bandits, and the next second, a dark auburn-stoned, cylindrical ring popped up from the baked earth, startling the bandits as water blasted out of the well like a waterfall, saturating them all wet. Not but a few steps behind, Alphonse finished his alchemy circle and touched his array, reshaping the earth around the men which rose from the ground and trapped them inside a hollow dome like a giant igloo made of sand and rock.

Another burst of alchemic static from Edward streeked toward the bandits, hitting the water and turning into steam and gas, engulfing the surviving bandits. Al was confused at first why Ed did that, but remembered that, not only was water composed of oxygen and hydrogen, some of the bandits had lit cigars and cigarettes still inside the enclosed space of the earthen dome. The Armored Alchemist spun back to face Edward as a horrible sense of dread filled him.

"ED! NO-"

Anything else Alphonse might have shouted was drowned out by the explosion that followed from within the stone igloo, sending out a gout of fire, ash and debris from the opening. Windows shattered; men fell back in alarm, or were knocked out cold from the concussive force of the blast radius; and some of the closer houses were near shambles, almost ripped apart completely from the inside-out as the blast sent a rattling tremor through the earth itself that shook house foundations and jarred people standing off their feet. A single instant that felt lasted for hours.

Lowering his arms that shielded his helmet head, Al peered through the smoke, hoping for a miracle but knowing only great destruction awaited.

When the dust settled and cleared, his fears were confirmed. Almost a dozen charred bodies were scattered beneath the rubble of the collapsed earthen dome, debris littered the whole street, surrounding a giant divoted pit where the majority of the debris collected. Townspeople stumbled out of their homes, dazed, confused, and still frightened. Despite the danger of the bandit's complete demise, they were still wary of any repeats of what just transpired.

Sickened, dumb-struck, and furious for what Edward had done, Al turned back around to face his brother and give him a stern lecture-

Or rather, he would have, had he not seen his brother lying face down--and deathly still--in the bloody dirt.

So he did what anyone would do in his position. He screamed for help, and prayed it wasn't too late.

* * *

Pain and blinding white light. All Edward could feel and see. He knew he was dreaming, but couldn't force himself to awake from it. He scanned his surroundings, noticing how he stood on nothing, where in the vast -and familiar- emptiness, he recognized the place. He peeked over his shoulder, and saw a hovering stone slab emblazoned with the Tree of Sephiroth, confirming his suspicions.

He was back in Truth's domain. If for nothing else to call what ever this place truly was.

_**"Welcome back, Little Fool. Did you have fun in my absence?"**_

More prepared for it this time, Edward calmly raised his head where, to his irritation, Truth's incorpereal white body; save for his right arm and left leg, hovered as if in empty space, untouched by the whims of gravity.

Curious from his last visit here, Edward inspected himself, ignoring the aimlessly drifting figure of Truth as he slowly tumbled through the air like a leaf in a stray breeze. As the same as before, only shadow-like, transparent limbs took place of his missing prosthetics, meaning they'd been removed _again_.

Snippits of memory flittered around his mind, some he recognized, others he didn't. He remembered when Al had found him and when they trapped the bandits inside that earthen dome. The rest afterward was a blur, and could only remember the dull sound of explosions in the background and the tremor that rattled through his chest before he succumbed to oblivion. All his injuries must have finally caught up with him when he instinctively knew his brother was there to help him.

Al. Was he okay? Had he been harmed in the explosion? Why _had_ there been an explosion in the first place?

Then a memory came back to him. Oxygen and Hydrogen. Oxygen and Hydrogen. Over and over it repeated through his mind like a mantra when he clapped his hands together a final time before his vision turned black and hazy.

Now he remembered. _He_ had caused the explosion. He did so deliberately because his strength had fallen so low that he needed Al's help to pull up a stone igloo to entrap the bandits inside where he finished them off.

Looking up, Edward drew back in surprise as he found Truth's face just inches away from his own, observing him with a large toothy grin.

_**"You may not know it just yet, but already you have set into motion the gears of fate. And oh, the many souls it will engulf. I almost wish I was there to see it all with mine own eyes."**_ Truth paused a second, tilting his head. **_"Well, if I _had_ eyes."_**

Edward wasn't in the mood for Truth's games. "What do ya want? You wouldn't bring me here just to kill time, now would you?"

**_"Maybe."_**

Edward felt one of his eyebrows twitch. Of course. Why did he bother asking in the first place?

Turning away from the incorpereal apparition, Edward walked away, hoping to get some distance between him and the sadistic being. "I'm done talking with you, Truth. I'm leaving."

A hollow chuckle answered, ladden with private amusement and a hint of sadistic humor. Ed felt an involuntary chill rattle his spine.

_**"You can no more be rid of me than your own guilt. Like it, you need me to focus your power."**_

Ed came to a halt, half-turning slowing and staring at Truth incredulously.

**_"Without your guilt, that poison driving you mad with fear and regret for your mistake and the cost of it, you would never have striven so far and achieved so much in turn for it. Without that guilt, that gift you so readily try to bury or resolve, you have achieved more than most humans dared dream in a life-time. Your guilt is your driving force to keep perservering."_**

Edward felt rage boiling his blood at Truth's words, speaking about his mistake like it was a blessing, when all he saw it as was a curse that robbed him of a limb and nearly robbed him of his only family. And he dared to mock his pain and Alphonse's suffering by calling it his gift. "And what is it have I achieved!? Endless nights of tears for ruining my brother's life and robbing him of his body? Tearing off my limbs and being dependent on these hunks of metal? All for the twisted body of our dead mother and being able to clap my hands and do alchemy? Is that it!?"

Truth chuckled again, but this time without any hint of malice. _**"No. For looking into the Gate."**_

Edward had heard enough. He turned away in disgust and started walking, hoping to reach wakefulness by foot. "I've already made enough mistakes in my life. All I intend to do is correct them and move on." He looked over his shoulder one last time at the floating spectre. "And I never want to see you again."

The edge of his vision was getting darker the further he moved away from the Gate. He openly raised his arms, inviting the darkness after the blinding light stinging his eyes. Just a moment before the blackness swallowed him, he heard Truth's voice whisper in his mind.

_**"There will come a time when you have to make a choice, Little Fool. A choice that will either save everyone, or damn them all. Think on it.**_

_**"...and remember back...those years ago....it will end where it all began."**_

* * *

Edward awoke.

Cracking open a crusted eyelid, Ed was thankful it was dark out. He was lying on his side, in a very soft and comfortable bed with the thick blankets covering him. A cursory test proved his auto-mail limbs had indeed been removed. His head still felt muddled and drowsy, and moved his left arm to rub his temple.

At least, he tried to.

The second his muscles moved to orient his arm, a sharp pain lanced through his nerves like someone had stabbed a thin knife through his arm and hit the bone. He grunted from the unexpected shock of agony, then hissed at the pain started to burn, spreading across his whole body in record time until every muscle started throbbing and pulsing. Damn he felt sore. He felt like he'd been tossed into a meatgrinder.

After a few minutes; agonizing moments that seemed to drag on for hours, the pain started to ebb away, but still left a dull but hot throb in its absence, followed by a tinging tingle in between every few minutes.

It was only once he managed to deal with the pain, that he finally noticed something else that he's overlooked in the last ten minutes:

There was an arm around his waist. Warm breathe was touching his neck. And, if he wasn't mistaken, there were two soft pillowy masses pressing against his back.

Edward's face burned with embarrassment. There was a woman in his bed!

Looking down underneath the covers, he tried to see in the meager light to identify who his...bedmate...was. Of course, seeing as he only knew no one personally in the town, his attempt was a bit redundant. Still, the skin tone of the rather slim and feminine arm was dark, a cinnamon color.

Wait. It couldn't be...

"Rose?", Edward whispered, his voice hoarse and cracked. His throat felt dry; needed some water.

The body beside him stirred, pulling the covers off them both as she reached for the lamp on the bed stand. The light switch clicked, and the was illuminated in light, so bright it stung Ed's night-attuned eyes, and he had to blink his eyelids shut for several seconds before he got used to glare. After adjusting his vision at last, he opened his eyes.

His guess had been correct. Rose's face hovered in his vision, directly above his own as he had turned on his back. Her expression was tense, anxious, but relieved. The her lips broke into smile.

"Thank god you're alright." she said in a sigh, rubbing at her teary eyes. "You got so cold, I thought you were gonna die. You lost so much blood."

Edward's dry throat drew another cough, harsh and scratching. "How long...?" he rasped, coughing again as his sore throat pained him.

"Don't speak; I'll get you some water." Rose said before slipping out of the bed and striding over to the table near the wall, pouring a glass of water from a pitcher set atop it. She came back and helped the elder Elric into an up position so he could drink easier. "Anyway, you've been out for over a day. A local physician came and checked in on you. He told me and Al that your windpipe had been pierced through, but then it was seared shut like with a hot pick. One of your major arteries had been cut and you would've died within hours from the blood loss. That's why I...offered to keep you warm until you awoke." Her face flushed scarlet when mentioning the last bit, and she demurely looked away.

"As I was saying, the doc inspected your throat and managed to clean away all the infected tissue, but your vocal cords were damaged beyond his help. He told me you're gonna make a full recovery, but your voice will never come back the way it was before. You're always gonna have a bit of a rasp in your speech." She looked away once more, expression full of guilt for not being able to offer much consolance for his loss.

Edward thought about everything Rose told him. All in all, he didn't feel bitter or angery for the loss of his voice. He managed to escape captivity from the bandits and still keep his life. Earning a simple rasp to his voice was a bargain trade for surviving yesterday's assault.

"Thank you...for telling me." Edward said once more, this time less painfully.

Rose shook her head, smiling sadly. "You should thank Al instead; he's the one that carried you inside and called the doctor. All I did was hold your hand and pray you'd stay alive. Besides, you have the right to know what happened."

Despite her statement, Edward was still thankful. He offered a small smile of gratitude as he slid back down underneath the bed covers. "Thank you all the same."

Gazing at him once more, Rose turned away slightly as a blush came back to her cheeks. "Well, since we got that covered, the doctor insisted that you should keep warm and stay in bed for the next few days." She nervously twirled a lock of her brown hair around her finger. "So...I'm gonna have to...sleep next to you."

Despite his condition, Ed felt his cheeks heat up, and found he couldn't bring himself to look Rose in the eyes. "You don't...have to-"

"I want to."

Edward's head snapped back up, eyes wide and staring at Rose in disbeliefe as she gasped and covered her mouth in shock. She couldn't have surprised him more with her answer.

"W-what I mean is," Rose stuttered, face flushing a dark red all the way down to her throat, "Y-y-you're still weak from your fight and you need to rest as much as possible. Besides, it takes a few days before you recover from bloodloss, so you need to keep warm or you'll catch a cold and--I swear I didn't mean what I said in _that_ way, believed me--it's just that..."

When she fell silent, Edward spoke in a grating rasp. "What is it?"

Rose looked away. Guilt had masked her features in an expression of solemn grief and helplessness. "I couldn't do anything. Even when everyone else was fighting to defende their town and dying for it, I couldn't do a thing to help Al, or you, or anyone. The only thing I did was...gun a man down from behind and...he died so quickly..." Tears dripped out from her eyes in earnest now, spilling down her cheeks. "When the doctor told me you were gonna make it, I felt so relieved in spite of everything at the time. I've been so useless to you both, yet I took the first chance I could to help you, hoping to make up for my neglect." She looked him pleadingly, as if his answer could free her or damn her. "Can you forgive me?"

Too weary for any emotional displays, Edward still tried to make an effort to reply properly. "You have nothing to be sorry for, 'cause you did nothing wrong. And don't bother sheading tears over the bandit you killed; he would've just done the same to anyone else in the town--including you. You did what you had to...just as I did the same."

Rose thought she heard remorse in Ed's voice, but when she looked back up, she was startled to see tears rolling down the Fullmetal Alchemist's cheeks. "Edward?"

"Hmm?" Pulled out from his thoughts, it was then that Edward felt the wetness on his cheeks and touched his tears, staring at the moisture on his fingertips in odd fascination. "I'm...crying?" he rasped quietly, coming out as a hissing breath. "I don't feel sad, but they won't stop..."

Feeling a pair of arms embrace his head, Ed heard Rose whisper. "It's all right. Let it out. Talk to me about it."

Edward couldn't stop it. A dam had broken inside of him, and now he suddenly clutching at Rose like a lifeline while afloat in a turbulant ocean of grief, regret and horror as he finally came to grips with everything he'd done.

He'd killed all those men. Dozens of them. They all died so easily, like candle flames snuffed out by a strong breeze. Although they were his enemies and captors, and their intent to kill and ravage the townsfolk in Dust Bowl, he'd never once before then brought himself to actually take the life of another human, believing whole-heartedly that would be as grave a sin as what he'd done to his brother. If he still believed that Al was human and still had life, shouldn't he hold that regard equally to all human life?

What had he done?

He didn't even notice how he was babbling. "I killed them...I killed them all, even inside their bunker. I crushed and burried their bodies under all the rubble of their lair when I destroyed the bunker's foundations. Then I went out on foot and killed all the stragglers from behind by transmuting spears from the ground...the gunshots sounded so close when I finally reached the town. I wasn't even paying attention how many I had already been killed by my hands...never saw their faces, just slashed and dropped them dead, and moved on without a backward glance..."

Edward didn't know how long he went into detail of everything he did, how he killed the bandits he came across, yet ommitted any mention of Martel when talking about his interrogation by Wallace, believing it both irrelevant yet personal. His embarrassment forgotten, he didn't mind at all when Rose slipped back under the covers of his bed and stroked his hair in a calming manner, soothing him as he kept repeating "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...please forgive me".

Rose knew all too well what Edward was going through, had felt the horrifying shock and dread as she shot that bandit that tried to sneak up behind Alphonse. Yet she quickly regained her composure because Al had been with her and protected her in the midst of all that chaos. Perhaps what Ed was feeling was more along the lines of supressed shock that resurfaced after the fighting was done. Too focused on keeping his attention on killing his enemies, his grief had piled up until it became too much to bare.

"Can you forgive me for what I've done?"

Rose ran her fingers through Ed's hair, thinking over her best response. An idea came to mind, and she smiled. "You have nothing to be sorry for, because you did nothing wrong. And don't bother sheading tears over the bandits you killed; they would've just done the same to anyone else in the town--including you. You did what you had to...just as I did the same." She lightly poked Ed in the ribs playfully as he stared at her incredously over his shoulder. "Sound familiar?"

Despite himself, Edward chuckled. "Yeah, very familiar. I said the same thing almost an hour ago."

"I'm just glad you're feeling better." Rose said sincerely, hugging Edward tighter.

"...Back when Al and I were just kids, we were looking for different methods of studying alchemy, seeking other means of bringing our mother back to life. But our skills weren't enough; we needed to learn more. Much more."

Rose stopped stroking Ed's hair, listining intently.

"I don't remember when it was exactly, but I remember the rain, the storm raging on that brought in flood water from the ocean, spilling over the town's meager walls. Al and I tried transmuting another rock barrier to hold back the swarming tide, but our efforts were laughable; we barely did more than stop a few small waves that tore down our tranmuted walls into rubble. It was dark that day; storm clouds so black and thick I thought it was night.

"When it was all over, Al and I came up to her and asked her to teach us Alchemy. She kept refusing, but Al and I were adamant; we grabbed onto her leg and pleaded helplessly, before she gave in and agreed."

"So what did she have you two do?", Rose asked, still wondering why Edward didn't mention his teacher's name. An accidental, or deliberate omition?

"She left us on deserted tropical island for one month, alone, with nothing but a hunting knife. She told us if we didn't find out for ourselves the meaning of 'All is one, One is all'. It was laughable, how we had to improvise and learn survival training hilw being harassed by this wildman that kept attacking us at random."

Rose grimaced, vividly imagining what transpired. "Sounds like bootcamp from hell."

"That's what Al and I thought after a week into our isolation. We hadn't managed to catch any decent food and we were starving. We felt hopeless and asked ourselves over and over again, 'what does all this have to do with alchemy?'" Edward had to swallow to relieve his dry throat after speaking so much. "Next day, the wildman attacked us again, told he'd kill us if we didn't fight back. Too tired and exhausted, I just gave up, told him to go ahead and kill me.

"But he never did. He tossed me away like a bag of flour and went to pick up Al, but I was still stubburn to the bone. I got up and pointed our hunting knife at the wildman, ready to fight him again, knowing it was hopeless. He suddenly turned away and disappeared into the forest and I collapsed.

"It wasn't until another two or three days after that incident that Al and I began to adapt, managing to catch some fish and game for meals, foraging for mushrooms and fruits, and refining our hut we built for shelter. Before we came to the island, Al and I thought that, if we died, everyone we knew would be sad, but then we realised that was a narrow perspective on ourselves; a selfish point of view. That's when Al and I started thinking.

"The world doesn't revolve around single people or things, but revolves with everything on the surface, and beneath it. Things that died from time, disease, or predation, after thousands, millions of generations, were all a part of nature. Animals fed on ohter animals and plants, which fed the plants by seeping into the earth itself. And from the food chain, there are those that survive and pass on their genes, producing future generations and making the whole process repeat over and over again.

"That was the lesson our teacher wanted us to learn, on that small, isolated island."

"All is one, One is all", Rose muttered, thinking thoughtfully when it came to her in a flash of brilliance. "I get it now. 'All' is the world. And 'One' is you, myself, and everyone else."

Edward cracked a grin, glancing over his shoulder at Rose's beaming face. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

"....the reason you wanted to learn alchemy from your teacher...was to bring back your mother, wasn't it?"

Ed yawned, pulling his comforter tighter around his body. "That's a story that needs to wait for another time. It's gotten pretty damn late, and I need some rest."

"Then maybe it's time we finally got some shut-eye. Leto knows my eyes feel like they're lifting load-stones."

Edward agreed wholeheartedly, drowsing off to slumber soon after Rose switched the lamp light off and cuddled closer to the Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

Colonol Roy Mustang always had means of getting days off, and breaks in between work when he needed time to himself (or for when he procured arrangements for another date.) Balancing life in and outside the military kept him at ease, never being too laid back or too consumed or overburdened with work. It allowed him to be flexible.

It also helped he had several subordinates that helped him with his paperwork.

Sadly for him, upon an urgent call from his office, he knew he'd probably have to cancel his date that night when he got word of a train hijacking departing from New Optain, which was executed by eastern extremists called the "Blue Squad".

The issue being, however, had nothing to do with the train, so much as the importance of one of its passengers.

"Have there been any statements?", Roy asked of his 1st Leutenant, Riza Hawkeye, following closely behind Mustang as they strode quickly to his office.

Standing just under six feet tall, Riza Hawkeye was more than her appearence lead to believe. Slim, pretty, with shoulder-length blond hair pinned atop her head and sky-blue eyes. Her expression, on the other hand, remained stoic and neutral, as her focus and attention was soley concentrated on her task. "We recieved a manifesto just moment's ago. Would you like to read it?"

Roy raised his hand, declining. "No, that's alright. Let me guess...I'm sure it's full of kind words for the military.

"How'd you know?", Hawkeye deadpanned.

"Are you certain General Hakuro is on board the train hijacked?", Roy Mustang asked his 2nd Leutenant, Jean Havoc; a tall man with short, spiky blond hair and average build, and a heavy smoker.

"According to this list just printed out by Fuery, General Hakuro was on vacation leave and boarded Limited Express No. 04840, departing from New Optain to Eastern Head Quarters." Havoc scratched his chin. "Yup, the General and his family are on board."

"Unbelievable", Roy sighed, exhasperated as he scrolled down the list of passengers. "He should've been aware how unstable it is in the east right now, and yet he comes here on vacation with his family..."

One of the names listed on the passenger list caught Mustang's attention, and he gave a closer inspection, before a triumphant smirk spread on his face. "Hold on, everyone! I think we can go home earlier today than we thought."

Drawing the attention of everyone in the office, Roy clarrified. "The Fullmetal Alchemist is onboard."

* * *

Said alchemist was currently sleeping in his seat, a book covering his face with his left arm and leg dangling over the edge of his seat. One of the hijackers had his shotgun shouldered and stared down at the slumbering teen with a raise eyebrow. "...How can this brat be sleepin' through all this? Hey! Wake up.", the hijacker barked, proding Edward's chin with the barrel of his shotgun, elliciting an annoyed snort from the slumbering alchemist, which served to further irritate the illtempered radical.

"Stupid sonnova...Act more like a hostage _you little RUNT_!!", he yelled threateningly, glaring down at the prone teen.

Edward's head twitched beneath his book, and he slowly lifted it off his face and stared down the barrel of the shotgun pointed at him.. Across from him, Al was rigid with alarm, expecting chaos to erupt at any second. Inside his armored body, Rose stiffened and barely managed to keep herself from yelling in fear.

Then, quick as lightning, Ed's automail arm shot out and grabbed the barrel of the hijacker's gun and twisted the metal as easily as warm candle wax, bending the barrel backward toward the renegade's face, to the stunned disbelief of the gunman. Not wanting to give any further warning, Edward repositioned his metal leg and, aiming carefully, kicked the hijacker on the side of his broad chin, making his neck crack loudly and gruesomely as he fell down, knocked out.

Back on the other side seat, Al slapped his forehead, exasperated. His brother might have just stirred a hornet's nest.

The downed thug's partner strode up beside the now standing Edward, pointing his Walter P32 pistol at the Fullmetal Alchemist's head, just above the ear. "That was dumb, kid. We were ordered to kill all resisters. I don't want to shoot a runt like you, but..."

"Alright, that's enough. You two should really calm down." Al interrupted, lifting the hijacker's gun arm up and away from anyone toward the ceiling.

"You want to fight us-", the hijacker yelled-

-Which was quickly cut off as Edward jumped and combined a knee strike -with his automail limb at that- into the man's face. Not satisfied even after the man fell flat on his back and knocked out, Ed proceeded to hammer at the unconscious thug's face repeatedly until it looked more like ground hamburger than a human's face. "_Call me a runt again, I dare you motherfu_-!!"

"Big brother. If you don't let up, you might kill him." Alphonse interjected. Even Rose felt aprehensive watching Edward beat the man to a pulp, cringing when she saw a tooth fly out.

Edward did stop when Al called out, but then he stared off into space, and looked back to Al while pointing at the man he just pummeled. "So, um, who are these guys exactly?"

_'So he was just reacting when he said "runt".'_ Alphonse thought, slumping in dismay. His brother might've just pushed them one foot into the grave...again.

After the Elric Brothers has tied pu both men securely in rope, Edward got the second man he beat up to start talking. "Besides us, there are two more in the engine room and four more in the First-Class car guarding the General Hakuro. There are four in the coach car standing guard in different locations."

"And the rest?", Ed asked politely, crackling his knuckles.

"That's it!" the man shrieked, voice rising a few octaves in fear. "That's all the men of our crew. There's no more!"

"There's still ten more of them!", someone dismayed in the crowd. "What are we gonna do now? When they hear you beat up their men, they might come retaliate...!"

Edward felt a vein in his temple throb wiht irritation. _'Cowardly shits. No "thank you" for getting rid of these jokers while you were all huddling in fear? Really, maybe I was expecting too much from these people.'_

"If somebody was more mature, this might've ended peacefully." Alphonse said behind Edward.

"Spare me. These guys won't except surrender, and I'm not playing the diplomat with thugs. Al, you take them from below while I go above, allright?" Edward didn't directly address Rose, knowing she was better left in the dark regarding his military station and asociation, otherwise that bastard Mustang might try to exploit her somehow, which he had no intention of allowing. Besides, inside Al's body, she was the safest passenger on the train.

"Alright, Ed. Be careful."

Just when Ed was about to climb out the window to the train car roof, someone in the crowd asked. "Who are you guys?"

"Edward and Alphonse Elric, state alchemists at your service."

To Be Continued...


End file.
